Taylor Lautner Will NOT Star As Stretch Armstrong

Back in February of 2010, we first heard that Twilight star Taylor Lautner would be starring in the big screen adaptation of Stretch Armstrong … a film based on the toy of the same name. Since that time, we really haven’t heard much about the film … not the storyline, not other casting … pretty much nothing. Well, today we get an update … it turns out that Stretch Armstrong the movie has been passed by Universal Studios to Relativity productions … and Taylor Lautner is no longer attached to the film. I mean, I gotta say … this is GREAT news for Lautner‘s film career. Read on for more deets.

Stretch Armstrong has found a new home at Relativity. The movie project, based on the classic Hasbro toy, had been set up at Universal with Taylor Lautner to star but has now found itself at Relativity. Lautner is no longer involved, and neither are director Rob Letterman or Imagine Entertainment as producers. But without those elements, Relativity is moving full steam ahead, setting an April 11, 2014, release date for what it is calling a live-action tentpole. Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh, Hasbro's Brian Goldner and Bennet Schnier are producing while Relativity's Tucker Tooley is exec producing. Letterman is also exec producing. Stretch was introduced as a toy in 1976. The toy was different from other action figures in the sense he could be stretched out, twisted and folded but he always returned to his original form. The toy had a big relaunch in the 1990s and that's when Hollywood took serious interest. Caravan Pictures and Disney were homes for the property while Tim Allen and Jackie Chan were some actors that were associated with it. Stretch was part of a series of properties that were part of a Hasbro-Universal pact made in 2008. It had several release dates (the first one was April 15, 2011) that were pushed back until the project eventually left the studio. Relativity will distribute Stretch domestically and work with its foreign partners on the international release.

I’m sorry but this movie sounds like a terrible idea. IMHO, Taylor should be thanking his lucky stars that he got out of this one. I mean, I suppose it’s possible to make a movie out of the Stretch Armstrong doll (after all, they managed to make a movie out of the boardgame Battleship … and let’s not forget how popular the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise is — and those films are based on a ride at Disneyland) but I just can’t see it. I guess the task will fall to some other poor sap willing actor to play the lead role in Stretch Armstrong. What do y’all think about this film idea? Are you on board? If so, who do you think would make a good Stretch Armstrong?

[Source]