It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for – Thomas The Tank Engine is coming back to the big screen! However prepare for major disappointment, because this won’t be a sequel to the masterpiece that is Thomas And The Magic Railroad, the utterly bizarre movie from 2000 that starred Alec Baldwin as Mr Controller (the ‘Fat’ Controller has been banished in this PC age).
Instead HIT Entertainment, which owns Thomas (as well as Barney, Bob The Builder and many more), has signed Shrek The Third screenwriter Josh Klausner to write an entirely new movie based on the Rev. W.V. Audry’s classic characters. If you’re wondering why they’re bothering to make another movie based on the trains with faces, it’s because globally Thomas is the world’s most popular preschool property, with books, TV series (a new CG Thomas series is also in the works), and merchandise selling to virtually every corner of the globe.
The new movie will be a mix of live-action and CG, and HIT is hoping to get it into cinemas during spring 2011. Just in case you were wondering, THR confirms that Baldwin won’t be involved in this one at all.
The real question however is whether Ringo Starr will be narrating, because otherwise it’s difficult to imagine that the movie will be any good.