Cartoon Network Is Making a Captain Planet Movie

We. Were. Just. Talking about this.

In fact, I’ve been wondering for quite a while now when somebody was going to bring back Captain Planet. If big-budget live-action Transformers movies can, in spite of a lack of any narrative worth, consistently perform feats of box office mastery; if we can have a new My Little Pony series that captivates the internet; if we can keep rebooting The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles until one finally sticks; if Thundercats is premiering at the end of this month; then why on Earth hasn’t anyone picked up Captain Planet?

What I’m saying is that Captain Planet exists. As an already tested IP. That some one owns. And we’re in the middle of a superhero craze.

I’m not saying it should happen. I’m just wondering why it hasn’t. Turns out it has. From the LA Times:

Cartoon Network… announced Tuesday that it would develop a film based on the early ’90s cartoon “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” The movie will be produced by Don Murphy and Susan Montford, who as the producers of “Transformers” have some experience in turning cartoons into film franchises.

“Captain Planet” centers on five kids from across the world who are given superpowers to fight environmental disasters, such as sensing where a cataclysm may be happening, a kind of Spider-Man sense as imagined by Al Gore.

Producers say that the property’s entertainment value will dovetail with a larger timeliness. “With the earthquakes, tornadoes, melting icebergs and all the other problems threatening the world right now, Earth really needs her greatest defender,” said Montford. No cast or filmmakers have been brought on board yet.

Word to the wise: earthquakes and tornadoes aren’t environmental disasters. They’re natural disasters. There’s a slight difference in that the latter are actually the things that Captain Planet fights while the former are the other weapons that Gaia summons to protect herself.

But I digress: This is one ring-based superhero movie with what is sure to be a ridiculous costume that actually, totally should cast Ryan Reynolds.

(via The LA Times.)