Leonardo DiCaprio steps in to save the 'Captain Planet' movie
LOS ANGELES -- Could the fifth attempt be the one that finally summons a Captain Planet movie?
The obscure '90s cable TV cartoon is back on the radar after Appian Way, the production company of real-life Hollywood planeteer Leonardo DiCaprio, has taken an interest in developing it for Paramount Pictures and is working on a deal, Mashable has confirmed.
The campy animated Captain Planet and the Planeteers, which originally ran on TBS from 1990-1992, followed five kids whose magical rings allowed them to control natural elements. They team up to summon Captain Planet, a superhero who protects the environment.
You May Also Like
Paramount is nearing a deal for rights to the series, and Appian Way is in talks with Everybody Wants Some!! star Glen Powell (below) and his writing partner Jono Matt to pen the screenplay.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the Captain Planet news, Powell and Matt's take will find Captain Planet as a washed-up hero who now needs the kids more than they need him.
Though the package lists DiCaprio as a producer, it's too early to tell what his involvement might be; the project is in the very nascent stages, as the rights deal has yet to be completed. And this is hardly the first time someone's wanted to make a feature film out of the lesser-known cartoon.
The project bounced from studio to studio since 1996, with four different production teams, none of which ever took it past the design stage. It was most recently at Sony, which recently let the rights lapse back to underlying IP-owner Turner Broadcasting.
Don Cheadle played an evil version of Captain Planet in a Funny or Die video that went viral on social media several years ago.
Powell starred on Ryan Murphy's TV series Scream Queens and next stars as astronaut John Glenn alongside Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae in the space race drama Hidden Figures.
Turner Broadcasting, which owns the underlying rights to Captain Planet, is an investor in Mashable.
