Tom Hanks to Do Movie of Toy No One Under 50 Has Ever Cared About
 |
Remember playing with your Major Matt Mason action figure as a child? Then congrats, because you’re clearly the oldest living reader of Topless Robot. Also, this news is for you — Tom Hanks has signed to do a movie based on the old Mattel figure which debuted in 1966. From Variety:
The toy line originated in 1966; Mason led an astronaut team that
worked on the moon and lived in a space station. The toy was a hit in
the buildup to the first manned moon mission. Mattel retired the line
in the 1970s.When Mattel execs Tim Kilpin and Barry Waldo came
to Playtone for a meeting, they brought an arsenal of the Matt Mason
figures. Hanks came armed with his own.
TR contributor Brian Heiler sent me the tip, and made a good point — if Major Fucking Mason is getting a movie, then a Big Jim movie actually has a chance. Hell, there’s nothing that’s off the table any more. I expect Deniro and Pacino to be cast as goddamn Battle Beasts by the end of the year (a TR shirt for the best enterprising photoshopper who makes that image happen, by the way).
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.