Joel Silver planning big-screen adaptation of Ben 10

Joel Silver and his Warner Bros. based production company Dark Castle have signed on to develop a live-action movie based on the popular Cartoon Network series “Ben 10.” Silver is perhaps best known for his adult-oriented fare like LETHAL WEAPON, PREDATOR and DIE HARD but is trying again at the world of cartoon adaptations after his last attempt, 2008’s SPEED RACER, “failed miserably” (his words, not mine).

The story follows Ben Tennyson, a ten-year-old boy who finds an alien watch that allows him to transform into ten different alien lifeforms and he becomes something of a reluctant superhero.

Silver and WB’s version would not be the first time “Ben 10” has been adapted to live-action. In 2007 the network premiered “Ben 10: Race Against Time,” a made-for-TV movie directed by Alex Winter (he of BILL AND TED fame), and a sequel was produced in 2009 (even getting a limited theatrical run in some international territories).

Silver and crew will look to take the budget of the made-for-TV movies and probably multiply them by $50 million turning BEN 10 into a big summer blockbuster. But it’s not all about the movie… “Ben 10” has been one of the most popular toy lines over the past few years and the most lucrative of the WB networks.

The only question is whether Silver will try to rewrite the cartoon’s plot to include an ethnic partner who doesn’t get along with Ben until the end when they must put their differences aside to save the world. Oh wait, that’s just every other movie Joel Silver has produced.