Brian Grazer will be bringing a Stretch Armstrong film to screens. The date is even set: April 15, 2011. This isn’t the typical Hollywood idle speculation or out-of-the-ass talking. This is a confirmed thing. Brian Grazer – Oscar winner, uber-producer and Opie’s road dog – will be filling roughly 90 minutes of screen time with a toy that hasn’t been big since roughly Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was on the air.
It’s the first salvo in Universal’s six-year development deal with Hasbro Toys that will also see movie versions of some of their other properties to be shepherded through theatres including Monopoly (Ridley Scott), Clue (Gore Verbinski), Battleship (Peter Berg), Candyland (Kevin Lima) and Ouija (Michael Bay). Said Grazer on the prospect: “Stretch Armstrong is a character I have wanted to see onscreen for a long time. “He’s an unconventional kind of superhero with a power that no one would want.”
Now, I personally am of an age to have had a Stretch Armstrong doll back in the day. And I can vaguely remember being entertained for quite some time as I more than likely made the doll lick its own ass from time to time and bearhugged a furry pet or two with it. Not big on this concept, though. I’d much rather see a Plastic Man adaptation…or a movie about a Sit & Spin….