For quite some time now, a movie based onCaptain Planet, the beloved TBS cartoon series that ran in the early 1990s, has been in the works. The project was housed under Sony, who had been developing the property for awhile, but those rights lapsed. Now, according toTHR, Paramount is in talks to secure those very rights and, as of today, has a pretty major backer who looks to ensure that the blue-glass-skinned, green-haired intergalactic environmentalist-immortal will be arriving on the big screen sometime in the near future.
The name of that backer isLeonardo DiCaprioand no one should be surprised by this movie fromThe Wolf of Wall Streetstar. DiCaprio has made it very clear over the last decade that his biggest passion is environmentalism and, more importantly, the apocalyptic reality of global warming, an issue that many people still think is about as likely asRichard Gere’s supposed romance with a scared gerbil. DiCaprio’s Appian Way would produce along with Paramount following a first-look deal that the two companies signed back in March of this year.
Those companies will produce alongsideGlen Powell, a name that will be most familiar to fans ofScream QueensandRichard Linklater’s exceptionalEverybody Wants Some!!, who is in negotiations to co-write the script with writing partnerJono Matt. There’s been no talk of whether or not Powell, a very talented actor, will appear in the film, though one imagines bringing Captain Planet to life will require quite a lot of CGI. For those who don’t know,Captain Planetfollows a group of environmentalist teenagers who each have powerful rings that represent different essential, earthly powers, when they combine their power the titular god-thing arrives and saves the day from an array of villains. So, yeah, I’m not imagining thatSteve McQueenorKathryn Bigelowwill want to behind the camera for this one. Still, for 1990s nostalgists, this is an update on a project that’s long overdue.
