It might just be the most unlikely movie tie-in yet seen in the wake of huge box-office success for The Lego Movie and the Transformers saga: Hollywood is planning a film based on the squidgy, multicoloured modelling clay Play-Doh.
Studio 20th Century Fox has tapped Bridesmaids’ Paul Feig to direct. It is not clear at this stage whether the project will take a live-action or animated format, though some sort of stop-motion flavour seems a good bet.
The Lego Movie is due to spawn a number of sequels and spin-offs, including Lego Batman and Ninjago movies, after taking $658m worldwide last year and drawing rave reviews. Toymaker Hasbro, owner of the Play-Doh brand, has seen its four Transformers movies take more than $3.7bn worldwide – though the company’s attempt to bring Battleship to the big screen sank largely without trace in 2012. The company has just seen low-budget horror movie Ouija haul in more than $100m globally, and its upcoming slate includes films based on its properties Jem and the Holograms and fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering.
Feig is the man of the moment after plans were announced for his new take on Ghostbusters featuring a quartet of “hilarious women”: Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig will join Saturday Night Live regulars Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones in the lead roles. A separate film is reportedly in the works featuring an all-male team, with Channing Tatum tipped to star and talk of studio Sony setting up its own “cinematic universe” surrounding the much-loved supernatural 80s saga.
Jason Micallef will write the screenplay for the Play-Doh film, which does not yet have a release date. The film-maker has some experience in the field of movies about malleable substances: his script for 2011 comedy Butter (starring Jennifer Garner and Hugh Jackman) is set in the hitherto obscure world of competitive butter carving.
