9's Shane Acker To Direct Thomas The Tank Engine

Thomas The Tank Engine's movie is finally gaining some steam. The character first shot to fame right after World War II thanks to a litany of books written by W.V. Audry entitled The Railway Series, but it wasn't until a 1984 children's television show premiered that the franchise really started dominating merchandise sales in the preschool market. For the last decade, it's been the most successful four to five year old brand in the United States and the United Kingdom, but with this new film, rights holders HIT Entertainment are hoping to skew the concept slightly older.

That doesn't mean you should expect to see boobs or hear f-bombs, but the company is already planning a line of toys to be found in the vehicle aisle rather than the preschool aisle. Perhaps that's why they've hired Shane Acker to direct. He previously helmed the Tim Burton-produced 9, but with a little kid at home, he's excited about preparing some material a younger audience could appreciate. According to Deadline, he'll work from a completed script written by Josh Klausner, Chris Viscardi and Will McRobb.

The live action film will follow a young boy who copes with the withdrawal of his father by retreating into the same magical world of talking trains his dad once visited as a child. The financing will all be done in house by HIT Entertainment, leaving the company to market and highlight the character as they see fit.

Prior to Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends' television debut, Ringo Starr was approached to do voice work. He initially declined saying children were only interested in “dinosaurs with lasers”. Hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of the last few decades have said otherwise.

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Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.