Legendary Developing Live-Action 'Magic School Bus'
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- Legendary Entertainment and Scholastic Entertainment are developing a live-action Magic School Bus feature, with Rob Letterman set to write the treatment and direct and Elizabeth Banks attached to produce and play Ms. Frizzle.
- The project moved to Legendary after Universal's rights lapsed; Universal had announced a separate live-action/animated hybrid take in 2020 alongside Scholastic, Banks, and producer Marc Platt.
- The Magic School Bus franchise, created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen and published by Scholastic, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, has sold over 90 million books in print, and ran from 1986 to 2021.
- The most famous screen adaptation was PBS's 1994-1997 animated series with Lily Tomlin voicing Ms. Frizzle, followed by Netflix's The Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017-2021) in which Kate McKinnon played Ms. Frizzle's younger sister, Ms. Fiona Felicity Frizzle.
- Rob Letterman most recently helmed Disney+/Hulu's Goosebumps TV series after directing the 2015 Goosebumps film with Jack Black; his credits also include Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, Shark Tale, and Casper.
Why it matters: Legendary slots a 40-year-old franchise with 90 million books in print onto a slate that already includes Dune: Part Three and a live-action Gundam movie for Netflix, betting a live-action Ms. Frizzle can anchor a family tentpole the way the original PBS show did in the 1990s. For Banks, the role gives her producing and starring control of an iconic character, while Letterman pivots from Goosebumps to another legacy children's IP.
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