[Author: Katey Rich, Cinema Blend]

We already told you that Tom Hanks’s Playtone Productions will be bringing to HBO an adaptation of American Gods, a novel series by Neil Gaiman about the question, “are you a god if no one believes in you?” But Playtone, the company Hanks named after the fictional record company in the movie That Thing You Do!, has plenty more up its sleeve that partner Gary Goetzman wanted to talk up toTHR. They’re developing an adaptation of the Green Day musical American Idiot, for one, but the new development is they’re also making Major Matt Mason, with Robert Zemeckis in talks to direct.

Hanks has actually been working on Matt Mason for at least two years, though bringing Zemeckis on board indicates they’re finally ready to get the project made. Hanks wrote the screenplay with Graham Yost, but Mason isn’t their invention– he’s a 60s spaceman doll from Mattel, kind of the vintage answer to Astronaut Ken, I guess. Even with Zemeckis on board the movie won’t be motion-capture, thank God, but it will be in 3D, which seems like a far lesser punishment. It’s unclear exactly when they hope to get the film into production, with Hanks set to star for Paul Greengrass in the Somali hostage drama Maersk Alabama, shooting this fall. But if you’ve been dying to see Hanks return to space ever since Apollo 13, the dream is still alive.

See the original post here: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Robert-Zemeckis-Could-Direct-Tom-Hanks-In-3D-Space-Adventure-Major-Matt-Mason-25178.html