Sixteen years after Tom Hanks blasted off into space in Apollo 13, the film legend is in talks to re-team with director Robert Zemeckis to make a movie based on an intergalactic-themed Mattel toy.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hanks' Playtone Productions and Universal will produce a big-screen adaptation of the hit 1960s astronaut toy Major Matt Mason. The project will be written by Hanks and his Band of Brothers writer Graham Yost. Launched in 1966, the Space Age hero, produced by Mattel, was based on NASA prototypes found in LIFE Magazine and other sources. The character lived and worked on the moon in the years leading up to the United States' first moon landing.
The flick has been in known development since 2009, with word hitting the World Wide Web that former Big star brought his own Matt Mason toys to meetings with Mattel executives.
Zemeckis, meanwhile, is close to signing on the dotted line to direct another aviation-related film, the Denzel Washington-starring The Flight.
Next up for Hanks is his second directorial effort, the romantic comedy film Larry Crowne, co-starring Julia Roberts and hitting theaters on July 1st.
[Via The Hollywood Reporter]
