curious adaptations

Failing to Realize The Lego Movie Was the Exception, Not the Rule, Hollywood Begins Developing a Pez Dispenser Movie

woodstock and peppermint patty
And the Oscar goes to… Photo: Esther Vasquez/Getty

Hollywood is learning the wrong lesson from the success of The Lego Movie. In this case, it’s not “make a charming action comedy about the joy of creativity,” but instead, “Make a film about pieces of plastic that people have heard of” — which, in fairness, is much easier. The most recent news comes via Deadline: Envision Media Arts is developing an animated movie based on Pez dispensers, which the company’s CEO promises will feature “a world unique to Pez and a story that will touch the hearts of many.” It’s the latest instance of the post–Lego Movie rush to adapt every last beloved pop-culture concept to the screen — see also the Settlers of Catan movie and the emoji movie. However, we can take solace in the Transformers-era trend of optioning toys, which gave us things like the Taylor Lautner Stretch Armstrong movie and Ridley Scott’s Monopoly. Which is all a way of saying that, sometimes, these horrible-sounding movies don’t end up getting made! And that’s for the best: If Pez dispensers are going to be featured in a movie, it shouldn’t be a cartoon, but a Videodrome-style thriller about the horror of having candy come out of your neck.

Hollywood Now Trying to Make Pez-Dispenser Movie