Movies based on novels, comic books and television shows are one thing. Films adapted from popular board games are another. But feature-length motion pictures derived from Hot Wheels cars? C’mon Hollywood, we have to draw the line somewhere.
Variety is reporting that interest in a Hot Wheels project is “revving up” once again. And that Legendary Entertainment is in “early negotiations” for the rights to the timeless Mattel toys. Years ago, Charlie’s Angels director McG was banging the drum for a Hot Wheels film, but that concept kind of got lapped by the Fast and Furious franchise, a series that has cornered the market on speeding muscle cars, the most recent being the critical and financially successful Fast Five.
Yet from the sound of the Variety report, a Hot Wheels would not target kids but instead go after the semi-mature Fast crowd. They’ve yet to find a director for the project. Maybe Transformers director Michael Bay can move from one souped-up toy franchise to another? His sizzle reel can be the highway-bridge scene from Bad Boys II. Just don’t show potential producers the sequence with the corpses, because that will cost you the gig, for sure.
