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UPDATES EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Lautner Is Now Hollywood’s Highest Paid Teenage Actor
UPDATES EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Lautner To Be Paramount’s Next Big Action Star
He’s already Hollywood’s highest paid teen. Pretty soon, he may also be Hollywood’s richest teen. He’s certainly Hollywood’s hardest working teen. Universal has just cast the 17-year-old Twilight Saga star Taylor Lautner to play title character Stretch Armstrong based on the Hasbro toy. The studio is giving Stretch superhero powers in the new 3D franchise that is scheduled for release in 2012. Universal Pictures Chairman Adam Fogelson and Co-Chairman Donna Langley think Lautner is “the real deal” and are undaunted by all the other projects which Taylor also is launching, including the Max Steel franchise at Paramount and the 3rd and 4th installments of the Twilight Saga for Summit Entertainment, and other films.
“In the past two years, Taylor has emerged as a real star at the global box office. He brings the perfect balance of energy and athleticism to the role of an unlikely super hero with a fantastic super power,” said Langley. “We couldn’t be more pleased that he has agreed to be our Stretch.”
Agreed Brian Goldner, President and CEO of Hasbro: “The addition of Taylor Lautner and the 3-D twist to Stretch Armstrong is sure to pay dividends when the film is released in 2012.”
The studio said Stretch Armstrong is moving to 2012 “to allot time to shape the project into a 3-D superhero adventure and to accommodate Lautner’s existing commitments”. Stretch Armstrong is based on the action figure popular around the world dating back to the 1970s and re-launched in the 1990s. Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, 8 Mile, American Gangster) will team with Hasbro to produce. Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty) has written the screenplay, and Hasbro’s Goldner and Schneir also produce.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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i’m obviously the only person who thinks this kid can’t act his way out of a wet paper bag. but i guess that doesn’t really matter anymore, because this biz is full of actors who can’t act.
this kid can act…he has been for years now obviously you are used to kiddy movies to make a statement like that…
How can anyone say Taylor can’t act, I think he’s an absolute gem and one of the most talented teen actors around at the moment.
I thought he was brilliant in new moon and I look forward to seeing him on the big screen again in the future.
I thinks he’s great, but I guess you can’t please everyone.
you’re not alone man. I mean, if you think about it the only thing he’s really famous for is gaining all that muscle and taking his shirt off. His entire career is fueled by teenage and (as creepy as this is) cougar lust. All of the sites that i’ve seen with articles or just pictures about him have about 1000000 comments saying “OMFG HE’S SOOOOO FUCKING HOTTT!!!!” there’s never anything about how great of an actor he is or how well he can portray characters. Basically he’s a male Megan Fox…pretty to look at but nothing really underneath those pecs and abs. If he turns out to be like Johnny Depp (who is an amazing actor BESIDES being good-looking) I’ll definitely be surprised
More crap on the way.
…the hell?…Stretch Armstrong?…mmkay.
What a dumb sounding movie.
2012? You mean this is going up against “Barbie: The Motion Picture”, “Captain Action” and “Holly Hobbie: Kung Fu Princess”?
So, is Stretch Armstrong’s biggest foe going to be ‘Dried Out Cornsyrup Man’?
You know, cause that’s what killed all my old Stretch Armstrong dolls.
Also, I would imagine the demo from Twilight has NO crossover to the Stretch Armstrong demo…
This guy is box office gold. Shia watch out.
1. Stretch Armstrong. What?
2. Taylor Lautner. Who?
Way to go, Universal!
LOL
Nikki, what is your fascination with this guy? Are you tracking his career so you can keep posting photos of him with his shirt off?
I find it fascinating that Hollywood is touting him as a “real star” when he wasn’t even wanted for the Twilight sequel. I guess a six pack can get you more than a drunken buzz in this town.
Congratulations to Taylor. He has wanted to do superhero movies with lots of action and stunt work. At 17, he is still young enough to do a lot of physical work and recover easily. He can do more boring movie roles when he gets a bit older. Way to go, hardest working teen in Hollywood!
Very very true–I don’t think people should put Taylor down just becasue they are jelous. He is not only handsome and talented but also hard working, smart and from what I have heard/read–funny and sweet.
GOD BLESS!!!!
That is if he’s offered those roles when he gets older. He might perpetually be stuck in these kinds of movies if he doesn’t watch out lol.
Because Twilight Saga and Stretch Armstrong are fascinating!
Hollywood needs a reset.
No more action shit, talentless teenage stars, vampires, $200m budgets, packaged films, Avatars, 3-D, “reboots,” franchises, misplaced hype, etc… Actually, all of those things I just mentioned in some way point back to CAA @_@
I’d love to see a change in taste, or at least an elevation of it…European audiences don’t have this problem. Let’s see more films such as this year’s “Up in the Air.” And if we must have blockbusters, at least have them be well acted (see RDJ & Jude Law in this year’s “Shelock Holmes”).
Of course, we will always be f*cked sideways in America because movies are marketed at teenagers, and we must be careful not to surpass their underachieving heads. Let’s blame our education system for giving us comparative retards incapable of appreciating complex storytelling.
EXCUSE ME!!!! As a teen, I agree some are not the smartest in the world but most of us are still hard working smart teens who actually want something out of life. I would like to be a high school drama teacher and author so I can inspire other people.
I do agree that Hollywood does need to shift it’s focus; but I do still think we have some good movies and actors out there (Take Disney/Pixar’s “Up” for example) so you shouldn’t go bad mouthing something just because you don’t agree with it.
no, God, no.
his superpower is ‘he stretches’?
trust me, no
I’d like to see this kid bring in an audience headlining his own movie, one that is not part of the Twilight Saga. If that happens, then they can call him a global star.
What really matters in Hollywood is MONEY and the money movies make for stockholders of the media companies, NOT artsy fartsy movies that make zero. This isn’t 1930 any more; they’re making movies that make money. If audiences see teenagers with superhuman powers so what?
@lsb: You completely missed his point.
He might be making lots of money but will the franchises succeed? Probably not. I hope he knows what he wants to do when they don’t succeed because acting will be off the table. He needs to invest well.
Dear Hasbro,
Not every toy should be made into a movie.
Sincerely,
A Guy Whose Only Characteristic Is That He Is Made Of Rubber
Dear Hasbro,
But seriously. I’ve read the script.
Sincerely,
AGWOCITHIMOR
Wow, all this just for doing some sit-ups.
Hey, that’s unfair! I’m sure a lot of it is diet and genetics, too.
“Genetics”? Have you seen his father? Believe me, it’s not genetics. That boy is ugly, with a pug nose and small squinty eyes, has zero charisma, plus he is short. Not exactly action hero height.
Outside the Twilight saga (despite all Summit’s efforts for New Moon, he has not yet got Robert Pattinson’s popularity), his 3 next roles are similar, he will soon be typecast.
He is the most boring young actor in Hollywood. Can only speak about one thing: gym, fitness diet, abs.
He will be a huge action star when he gets a bit older, but a stretchy superhero? Ugh, cringe. Taylor could do better than that.
can somebody make a goddam Plastic-Man movie first?
And NOT the Wachowski Bros script?
Make it Goodfellas, except the Ray Liotta character gets hit with stretching the stretching chemical!
3D toy commercials!! bluarrgh
Jesus
I think its foolish for people to be betting the farm on him when he hasn’t proven any appeal outside Twilight. Even Robert Pattinson’s naked film didn’t do well, and if there is anything I thought fans of twilight might have wanted to see, it was that.
Can we please have a moratorium on casting Taylor in anything else until one of his movies comes out? Not that I care so much if movies fail, I just feel like these parts could go to other young talens who have acting talent.
Also, that pic above with the incongruos abs to neaderthalic/puppy dog face is, honestly, a little disturbing.
TOY BOY! TOY BOY!
Never before has there been a more aptly named cheesecake
Stretch Armstrong is based on the action figure popular around the world dating back to the 1970s and re-launched in the 1990s. Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, 8 Mile, American Gangster) will team with Hasbro to produce.
Okay, make your dumb movies, fine, it’s your choice.
But you are not allowed to list your Oscars as if they were to give those dumb movies some kind of credibility.
FROM THE PRODUCERS WHO THOUGHT, DAMN IT, MICHAEL BAY IS MAKING MORE MONEY THAN ME, AND ALL I CAN DO WITH MY ACADEMY AWARDS IS TO POLISH THEM LIKE A KNOB, COMES…
… TOY BOY: THE MOVIE!
They will make a movie out of anything & use anyone if they think it has audience potential.
I think these roles are based on Taylor’s body and muscles and not on his “acting skills”…. because he doesn’t have any…