Jennifer Lopez is set to produce a big-screen adaptation of popular children’s series Bob the Builder.
The film project is being developed by Mattel, who own the rights to Bob the Builder and who enjoyed blockbuster success with last year’s Barbie.
Bob the Builder first debuted on CBBC 25 years ago, but the new film is set to update his story.
The plot, from a script by Felipe Vargas, will see Roberto, or Bob, travel to Puerto Rico for a major construction job, where he “takes on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build”.
Anthony Ramos, whose credits include In the Heights, will play Bob.
In a statement, Robbie Brenner, president of Mattel Films said: “Pairing Anthony and Felipe’s genius vision for the story will capture this beloved character in a manner that audiences who grew up with Bob will recognise, and all-new audiences will enjoy.”
Bob the Builder (left) and Jennifer Lopez
(Getty)
Ramos, who is also producing alongside Lopez, said some parts of the film were inspired by his own life.
“For years, Bob the Builder’s characters have inspired young people around the world,” said Ramos. “A movie about friends working together, a celebration of a beautiful home they share, and how love can help to conquer any obstacle in your way. Can we fix it? Yes, we can!”
Bob the Builder first aired on CBBC between 1999 and 2011 and featured the titular masonry specialist and his colleague Wendy taking on a variety of construction jobs.
The animated series was a success worldwide, often with a country-specific voice cast. In 2011, Bob was sold along with Thomas & Friends to Mattel for $680m.
Mattel has been keen to capitalise on further properties following the success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Earlier this week, that film was nominated for a total of eight Oscars, including Best Picture.
The Academy’s failure to nominate Gerwig for Best Director or Margot Robbie for Best Actress has been widely debated, with even former US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wading into the debate.
In her five-star review of Barbie, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Barbie is one of the most inventive, immaculately crafted and surprising mainstream films in recent memory – a testament to what can be achieved within even the deepest bowels of capitalism.
“It’s timely, too, arriving a week after the creative forces behind these stories began striking for their right to a living wage and the ability to work without the threat of being replaced by an AI. It’s a pink-splattered manifesto to the power of irreplaceable creative labour and imagination.”
