After working together on Forrest Gump, Cast Away and The Polar Express, director Robert Zemeckis is preparing to work with his Best Actor winner Tom Hanks yet again. THR reports that Hanks’ production shingle Playtone is in talks with the director to helm the 3D feature Major Matt Mason, based on the popular Mattel action figure.
The screenplay from Hanks and his Band of Brothers and The Pacific writer Graham Yost would be a live-action family film space adventure for Universal, with a reported budget of at least $100 million. Major Matt Mason was introduced in 1966, and was quite popular due to the space race and moon landing happening soon after, but then the toy line died out in the earlier 70s.
With Zemeckis signed on to Flight with Denzel Washington attached, we probably won’t see this one for a few years if he decides to make it. Flight is looking to begin shooting in the fall and it tells the story of a pilot named Whip Whitaker, who saves his plane that’s about to crash. However, his heroism is called into question when an investigation reveals that he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. This is kept secret by certain authorities, because there are “high stakes involved.” Check out a commercial for Mason below via Collider.
What do you think about Hanks and Zemeckis possibly teaming up again?