Taylor Lautner Drops Max, Stretches With Armstrong
Taylor Lautner, who seemed as though he would be starring in two films based on toy lines – Matell’s Max Steel and Hasbro’s Stretch Armstrong – has decided to leave max in the dust and stick with stretch. NY.com’s Vulture column offers this explanation:
“In the weeks after signing on to play Steel, Lautner became increasingly convinced that Hasbro was playing its hand better than Mattel. Thanks to WME, Hasbro was moving with far greater speed through Hollywood's development maze than Mattel, not only setting up projects, but quickly moving them forward: At Universal, Imagine Entertainment Über-producer Brian Grazer was working to get Stretch made into a 3-D movie by 2012; Candy Land had a script from Tropic Thunder screenwriter Etan Cohen, with Enchanted director Kevin Lima aiming for a 2011 release; Hancock's Peter Berg would direct Battleship next year; and Will Smith and James Lassiter were producing Risk at Sony's Columbia Pictures. And that wasn't even counting Hasbro's recent successes with Transformers and G.I. Joe — both of which were directed by WME clients, Michael Bay and Stephen Sommers, respectively. Explained one insider familiar with Lautner's decision: ‘When you sign up to make a movie with Hasbro, you know it will be in theaters a year later.’
“Mattel, by contrast, has made little progress in Hollywood, seemingly by choice. Last March, Universal announced that Tom Hanks would be developing a project based on the even-less-well-known sixties Mattel action figure Major Matt Mason (he was an astronaut who lived on the moon, for those of you under 50), but little else appears percolating.”
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