Joel Silver Bringing BEN 10 to the Big Screen
Joel Silver been brought in to produce and develop a live-action feature film adaptation of Cartoon Network's animated sci-fi series Ben 10. I doubt he will bring in the Wachowski siblings to direct this one, even though if he did it would probably be awesome.
I've never watched an episode of Ben 10, but it's popular among the young boys of the world, and I have all girls so that explains why I've never seen it. There was also a live-action TV movie made called Ben 10: Race Against Time, and apparently it brought in around 4 million viewers, I imagine it couldn't have been that good. Silver's goal is to make an exciting live-action big-budget film with the potential to be a franchise. They want to go as big as they possibly can with this one.
The main character in the series is Ben Tennyson, who is a boy that can transform into 10 different alien creatures with the help of a glovelike device called the Omnitrix. Silver had this to say in a statement,
I think we have to try something fresh and go at it in a way that stays true to the original material. I have a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old, so it's somewhere between them. I tried to do (something similar) with Speed Racer and failed miserably. You always learn more from the ones that don't work than the ones that do work.
Honestly, I thought Speed Racer was an awesomely fun and exciting movie, I know not everyone agrees with me... it completely bombed at the box-office. At this point, there's more of a market for Ben 10, it's fresh and in everyones mind. No matter how good or bad the film turns out to be, it's one of those movies that will rake in the cash.
Silver and Dark Castle are currently on the hunt for writers to adapt the project. Silver currently preparing to get started on a film called Project X, which is set for next year, as well as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, scheduled for December.
Here's a little more of information of the character for those of you not familiar:
Ben Tennyson was a normal ten-year-old boy until the day he found the Omnitrix. Once he put on this mysterious alien device, he could not take it off. The Omnitrix gave Ben the power to transform into ten different alien life-forms, and he became a reluctant superhero. With the help of his Grandpa Max and his cousin Gwen, Ben defeated Vilgax, an alien warlord determined to rule the Earth. Ben continued to fight to defend the Earth but before he turned eleven he found a way to remove the Omnitrix. His life went back to normal, albeit temporarily.
I think this is a franchise that fits silver's film style. It will be interesting to see the talent the bring in to develop it. What do you all think about Silver bringing Ben 10 to the big screen?