Tuesday 14 June 2011

Ben 10 Movie (Movie movie) ‘finally’ on the way.



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‘It started when a TV show was popular with kids’ Even thought the show has only been around since 2005 it feels like it’s been a movie in waiting almost since day one. Wildly popular with an insanely catchy theme tune (expertly paraphrased above) the toon has already had 2 live action TV movies, both directed by Bill & Ted’s Alex Winter, Ben 10 Race Against Time and Ben 10 Alien Swarm.




The movie (according to Variety) is being produced by Joel Silver (The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon & Sherloc Holmes) who admits that his previous attempt at a childrens’ action show adaptation was less than a roaring success.

"I tried to do (something similar) with 'Speed Racer' and failed miserably,"


The original Ben 10 cartoon featured a 10 year old Ben Tennyson travelling America in the Rustbucket (an RV with modifications) with his grandpa Max and ‘twin’ cousin Gwen. At the beginning of the trip Ben & Gwen go to what appears to be a meteor crash site and Ben ends up with a piece of alien technology, called the Omnitrix on his wrist. The device allows Ben to transform into 10 different alien ‘heroes’. (You may have noticed the numerous, subtle “10” references that lead to the title!) During the course of the show Gwen appears to develop magical powers and Granpa Max reveals some secrets of his own that suggest the appearance of the Omnitrix at their location was not a coincidence.




That show ran for four seasons before being changed to Ben 10: Alien Force. In that show the characters of Ben & Gwen are now 15 and former nemesis Kevin Levin (Kevin 11, you see what they did there) becomes an ally and Max has disappeared.


That ran for four seasons and has been changed into the currently running show Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. The characters have remained the same, although now 16 & 17, and Ben now has a car of his own, but The Omnitrix has been replaced by The Ultimatrix (or Ultimate Omnitrix) which, in addition to the same powers of The Omnitrix, also has the ability to to transform Ben into the ultimate version of the chosen alien.






Of course at present it is the original Ben 10 show that is being developed, but there’s a structure in if the film is a success, allowing for the film series to grow, as the young cast does, into the subsequent and already popular sequel shows. Warner Bros Harry Potter replacement could be here.

Altogether now;

‘It started when an alien device did what it did,

And stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid.

Now he’s got super-powers, he’s no ordinary kid,

He’s Ben 10.’



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