As part of its deal with Hasbro, Universal Pictures was developing a movie based on the Stretch Armstrong toy. Despite signing up Taylor Lautner to star, the films got stuck in development, before being dropped by the studio. A few months ago it was picked up by Relativity Media (who are still likely to release the film through Universal), who have chosen Breck Eisner (The Crazies) to direct, according to THR.
Lautner and previous director Rob Letterman (Gulliver’s Travels) are now definitely out, but it’s not known who will play the title role. Dean Georgaris is writing the script, and has some history with Eisner, as he produced The Crazies.
The studio must believe the project is nearly ready to go, as they’ve issued an April 11th, 2014 release date.
During the brief moment when it seemed Taylor Lautner was set to take over the Earth following the success of New Moon, he signed up star in Universal’s big budget take on the Stretch Armstrong toy. However the movie got stuck in a quagmire of script, budget and development problems.