Play-Doh Animated Movie in the Works from Emily V. Gordon and Jon M. Chu
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In the latest toy-related movie news, Play-Doh is being molded into an animated feature film from eOne and Hasbro.
The prospective picture will be written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Emily V. Gordon, with Jon M. Chu producing, with the potential to direct.
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“The team looks forward to bringing the audience a moldable, pliable, iconically-scented story about the importance of imagination,” Chu and Gordon stated.
Lance Johnson and Jane Lee will oversee through Chu’s Electric Somewhere banner. Gordon will executive produce, with Jillian Share, Chanel Vidal, and Steven Holster overseeing for eOne.
Introduced in the 1950s, Play-Doh has become the number one arts & crafts toy brand, sold in more than 80 countries.
After news of the project broke, Gordon tweeted a brief explanation, writing, “Jon and I had a series of conversations about creativity, imagination, and the purpose of art that were so fun and juicy that I knew I had to do this.”
She added: “I’ll get to use some of my play therapist training too, maybe….”
The movie marks the latest addition to eOne’s development slate of film and television projects based on Hasbro’s more than 1500 brands, including Clue, Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, Power Rangers, Transformers, Mouse Trap and Risk. Since Hasbro acquired eOne in 2019, the companies have developed a bundle of projects, including the upcoming “Dungeons & Dragons” film, with an ensemble led by Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, Hugh Grant, and Michelle Rodriguez. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the Paramount film is set for release on March 3, 2023. That film is followed by a newly announced “D&D” television series from Rawson Marshall Thurber.
The latest “Transformers” movie, dubbed “Rise of the Beasts,” stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback. Directed by Steven Caple Jr., the franchise’s seventh chapter is set for June 2023, with an animated spinoff helmed by Josh Cooley slated for July 19, 2024.
On the television front, “Risk” is being adapted for a Beau Willimon-helmed television series and a “Magic: The Gathering” animated series is set for release later this year on Netflix. Also in the works are film and television adaptations of Power Rangers, led by Jonathan Entwistle. Other active development titles include Ouija, Clue, and Mouse Trap.
While Chu most recently helmed “In the Heights” and the blockbuster hit “Crazy Rich Asians,” the new movie would mark a return to the toy business, as the filmmaker also directed 2013’s “G.I. Joe: Retaliation.”
Gordon is best known for her Oscar-nominated screenplay for “The Big Sick,” which she also produced. She also wrote and co-created the Apple TV plus series “Little America.”
Chu is represented by UTA, Artists First and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher; Gordon is represented by UTA, Mosaic and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.
Deadline was first to report news of the developing project.
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