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'View-Master' Movie Now Most Ridiculous '80s Toy Movie

July 7, 2009 / movie, news, toy, view-master

viewmaster-the-movie.jpg

Thought there couldn't be less of an idea for a movie than Asteroids: The Movie? Wrong again. Hollywood always finds a way. According to The Hollywood Reporter, DreamWorks is working on a movie based on View-Master. Yes, View-Master, the cheap, 3D slide-viewer for children:

DreamWorks is in negotiations to acquire movie rights to the toy from Mattel (which owns Fisher-Price) and has asked Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to do some "Transformers"-style magic on it.

Brad Caleb Kane, who worked as a writer-producer on the duo's Fox series "Fringe," is on board to write the screenplay. Kurtzman and Orci would produce.

Story specifics are being kept under wraps, though Kane, who tweeted his involvement during the holiday weekend, said, "It'll be like the old '80s Amblin movies: 'Goonies,' 'Young Sherlock' ... in that vein." That post has been taken down. Amblin-style movies has been the modus operandi of the Kurtzman-Orci banner.

DreamWorks is hoping to make a family-friendly movie.

Yeah, I'm sure DreamWorks would love for Kurtzman and Orci to do some "Transformers-style magic on it," except Transformers involved characters, and hints of a plot. Sorry to break the news, but View-Master is $14 vehicle for children to look at photos of Muppets 14-at-a-time. View-Master: The Movie is only a plastic shutter away from Photographs: The Movie. Which brings up a good point: who can Universal buy the rights to photographs from?

Oh, and good luck keeping it "family-friendly"! View-Master is basically synonymous with tits and exploding heads.

UPDATE: In the comments, Ted made a good point about the magic a View-Master is capable of. Forget everything I said.

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