UPDATE: Michael Bay has been revealed by Collider to not be a producer on this project. His production partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller will produce the Dora the Explorer movie.
Dora the Explorer has been a popular and intrepid animated character over at Nickelodeon for the better part of two decades. Soon, however, she's going to be far more than just an animated character. News broke this week that Paramount is looking to make a live action version of Dora the Explorer, a project that has previously been pitched but had yet to come to fruition. Until now. The project is going live action and, to spice things up a little, Michael Bay is involved.
As much as I'd like to conjure up visions of Michael Bay directing a high-octane version of Dora the Explorer, Bay is going to be involved with the Paramount project strictly through producing. His Platinum Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are also involved on the producing end. We also know a little bit about how the story is going to change for the film. Dora is a young kid during the events of the animated TV show, but that's not exactly where the movie is going to take the character. Instead, she's going to be a teenager.
Per THR, teenaged Dora will move to the city with her cousin Diego where adventure presumably awaits. The live-action version of the project is currently looking to try for a 2019 release, so it could be a while before we really get a glimpse of how the movie version will be different. There's also no word on how the movie would handle Dora's popular monkey, Boots. No stars have been signed on to the project, yet, but Nicholas Stoller is on board to write the script for the new movie. Plus, although this is a project that has previously been in development, reports indicate that the studio is really pushing to make the movie happen, now.
There's been a move by Disney to take animated fare and turn it into live action in recent years. Movies like Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Maleficent and Beauty and the Beast have been big revenue bringers for the House of Mouse, and it makes sense that Paramount might try to capitalize on the trend with its own live action project. Of course, in Disney's case, a lot of the live action is still CGI, and there's no indication that will be the big trend, here. We'll keep you posted either way.
The new flick would join other Viacom products also in the works at Paramount, including another SpongeBob SquarePants movie. While we wait for more Dora the Explorer news, you can check out the full list of upcoming live action remakes. In addition, you can go ahead and take a look at what is coming in 2018 with our full movies schedule.
