Ron Howard’s Stretch?

A movie based on goop-filled 70s toy STRETCH ARMSTRONG isn’t just “in the works” — it already has a planned release date of April 15th, 2011. Steve Oedekerk (BRUCE ALMIGHTY) was tasked with coming up with new and interesting ways for a curiously rubbery person to extend their limbs, but the director’s chair has been empty.

Or is it? A Business Week article (spotted by IESB) on the booming toy/movie connection casually mentions that Ron Howard is directing the adventures of the flexible hero (seen here, um, grappling with his arch rival Stretch Monster).

While this could be an ultimately erroneous assumption on their part, it’s not much of a stretch (hey, sorry). After all, Howard’s manga-haired business partner Brian Grazer is producing the movie, and last we heard, Howard hadn’t committed to his next project. Perhaps the fizzle of ANGELS & DEMONS has him considering a return to the world of CG and latex that gave him his biggest domestic hit, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.