[FPSPACE] Tom Hanks develops "Major Matt Mason" film for Universal studios

[Brett Harrison]

An accurate MMM film would include a scene where Mason's arm breaks due to  
over use, and hangs uselessly by his side.  MMM owners know what I'm  
talking about!



On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:17:33 +1100, Friends and Partners in Space  
<fpspace at stny.rr.com> wrote:

>
> Looks like the value of my MMM collection just shot up 50%... (Hurry! Go  
> to eBay
> or buy stock in Mattel while the market is still low! ;-)
>
> Tom Hanks develops "Major Matt Mason" film for Universal studios
> Apollo 13 and Toy Story Star to Play Both an Astronaut and a Toy
>
>
> Tom Hanks, famous for his roles as an astronaut in Apollo 13 and as a  
> toy in the
> Toy Story series, is going to get to play both an astronaut and a toy in  
> a film
> under development by Universal based on the 1960s action figure, Major  
> Matt
> Mason.
>
> The Major Matt Mason toys were first introduced by Mattel in the 1960s  
> to tie
> into the excitement of NASA's lunar program. The Matt Mason action  
> figure came
> with three other figures, Sgt Storm, Doug Davis, a civilian astronaut,  
> and Lt.
> Jeff Long, an African American, remarkably twenty years before an actual  
> African
> American astronaut, Guy Buford, flew on board the space shuttle. The  
> Matt Mason
> action figures came with a three level "space station" (actually a lunar  
> base),
> and various battery powered vehicles and accessories. The Major Matt  
> Mason line
> was discontinued in the 1970s as interest in the US space program waned.
>
> The Major Matt Mason film will be a live action feature, starring Tom  
> Hanks as
> Matt Mason, who will also produce along with Gary Goetzman. Graham Yost,  
> who
> collaborated with Tom Hanks in the series From Earth to the Moon and who  
> wrote
> the Brian De Palma film Mission to Mars, will write the screenplay.  
> There is no
> word on who will direct at this time.
>
> The Major Matt Mason film will be just the latest in a series of movies  
> based on
> toys that are either being filmed or under development. The most famous  
> of this
> genre is the upcoming GI: Joe film being directed by Stephen Somers.
>
> Tom Hanks will bring to the project, along with considerable artistic  
> talent, a
> passion for the space program and space exploration. That passion  
> certainly
> showed in Apollo 13 and From Earth to the Moon, the later the definitive
> dramatization of the Apollo lunar exploration program that originally  
> aired on
> HBO. Tom Hanks also produced, co-wrote, and narrated a 3D documentary  
> about the
> Apollo Moon landings entitled Magnificent Desolation.
>
> Clearly a Major Matt Mason film will serve as a tie in to the current  
> American
> lunar effort, scheduled to return astronauts to the Moon about 2019. The  
> Orion
> lunar effort has been endorsed by Presidents and Congresses of both  
> parties and
> thus there seems every chance of it navigating the political shoals that  
> might
> have wrecked such a high profile undertaking. Oddly enough, like Major  
> Matt
> Mason's crew, the Orion lunar expedition is designed to have a crew of  
> four
> astronauts.
>
> And one would expect a new line of toys to be marketed by and by.
>
> Source: Apollo 13: A True Life Space Adventure, Mark R. Whittington,  
> Associated
> Content, December 7th, 2005
>
> Tom Hanks circles 'Major' toy story, Michael Fleming, Variety, March  
> 24th, 2009
>
> Major Matt Mason, Wikipedia
>
> Magnificent Desolation: Tom Hanks' Vision of Lunar Exploration, Mark R.
> Whittington, Associated Content, October 16th, 2009
>
> Regards,
>
> ~JS~
>
> JAMES SPELLMAN, JR., DAFC, YA-02
>
> 60th Medical Group Public Affairs
>
> David Grant USAF Medical Center
>
> 101 Bodin Circle - Bldg. 777
>
> Travis AFB, CA 94535-1801
>
> Tel: (707) 423-3534
> DSN: 799-3534
>
> Cell: (707) 688-7024
>



-- 

Brett Harrison

"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."
- Paul Rodriguez