Hot Wheels movie will be “emotional” & “gritty” for some reason

❘ Published: 2023-07-04T09:46:25

CBS/Milestone

A Hot Wheels movie is in the works, and it’s going to be “emotional, grounded, and gritty” according to producer J.J. Abrams.

There have been a lot of movies based on toys: the billion-busting Transformers franchise, all of the My Little Pony films, G.I. Joe (including its recent attempt at a crossover), and the upcoming Barbie movie.

Well, get ready for the Mattel Cinematic Universe. The toy-making titan is looking to follow the presumed success of Barbie with a host of big-screen stories based on their products, with a whopping 45 movies currently in development.

Only 13 of those have been publicly announced, including Daniel Kaluuya’s “surrealistic” Barney movie and Hot Wheels, set to be produced by Star Trek’s J.J. Abrams.

Get ready for a “gritty” Hot Wheels movie

What’s the first thing that comes into your head when you think of Hot Wheels? Is it tubs full of colorful miniature cars amassed in your childhood? Is it the crazy loop-the-loop tracks you’d wait all year to play with at Christmas time?

Well, Abrams clearly has his own ideas about how to make the movie resonate with fans. In a recent report by The New Yorker, he said: “For a long time, we were talking to Mattel about Hot Wheels, and we couldn’t quite find the thing that clicked, that made it worthy of what Hot Wheels – that title – deserved. Then we came up with something… emotional and grounded and gritty.”

Discussions about the movie have been ongoing since 2003, with the original premise following a young man “trying to reconcile with his father. It’s a kid who steals his dad’s racecar and ends up going through a sort of Back to the Future portal into this world, and he has to reconcile his relationship with his father.”

Charlie’s Angels and Terminator: Salvation director McG was originally attached, but when the rights were handed over to Warner Bros. in 2009, it changed hands creatively. It was a slow drive towards Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, but a full script has yet to be turned in.

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