'Stretch Armstrong' Finds New Home at Relativity; Taylor Lautner No Longer Starring

Stretch Armstrong has found a new home at Relativity.

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The movie project, based on the classic Hasbro toy, had been set up at Universal with Taylor Lautner to star but has now found itself at Relativity.

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Lautner is no longer involved, and neither are director Rob Letterman or Imagine Entertainment as producers.

But without those elements, Relativity is moving full steam ahead, setting an April 11, 2014, release date for what it is calling a live-action tentpole. Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh, Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Bennet Schnier are producing while Relativity’s Tucker Tooley is exec producing. Letterman is also exec producing.
 
Stretch was introduced as a toy in 1976. The toy was different from other action figures in the sense he could be stretched out, twisted and folded but he always returned to his original form. The toy had a big relaunch in the 1990s and that’s when Hollywood took serious interest. Caravan Pictures and Disney were homes for the property while Tim Allen and Jackie Chan were some actors that were associated with it.
 
Stretch was part of a series of properties that were part of a Hasbro-Universal pact made in 2008. It had several release dates (the first one was April 15, 2011) that were pushed back until the project eventually left the studio.
 
Relativity will distribute Stretch domestically and work with its foreign partners on the international release. The company currently has the Gina Carano action movie Haywire in theatres.