Leonardo DiCaprio Is In Talks To Make A “Captain Planet” Movie
Despite what that header pic would lead you to believe, it doesn’t look like Leonardo DiCaprio will be in it. That’s too bad. I was hoping we’d get to see the Planeteers side-eye Captain Planet when they realize he spends about 75% of the year on a yacht.
The Hollywood Reporter says that the latest nugget of 90s nostalgia in talks to get the present-day reboot treatment will be Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and included in the conversation is Leonardo DiCaprio. Paramount has reportedly teamed up with Leo’s production company, Appian Way Productions, and are in talks to get the rights to the cartoon. They’re also looking at a Captain Planet script written by Jono Matt and Glen Powell, aka Chad from Scream Queens.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers was an animated series created by Ted Turner in 1990 about a team of five human kids who are given the power to “summon” a blue superhero to help them fight pollution caused by a pig-looking villain named Hoggish Greedly. They’re also friends with Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, who was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and dressed like she’s about to tear it up Studio 54 with Mother Nature and Old Man Winter.
Sony tried to get a Captain Planet movie made way back when, but the rights lapsed. Sources tell THR that Matt and Glen’s script sets the story years after the show. Captain Planet is now a washed-up mess who “needs the kids more than they need him.”
It sounds like it’s probably going to be set in present day, which means this new Captain Planet will no doubt update the pollution problems to relate to their new audience. Instead of fish getting caught in plastic soda rings, they’ll have gut-rot from ingesting all the chemicals that get washed down the drain every time a Kardashian washes their face. Instead of worrying about ripping a hole in the ozone layer with aerosol hairspray, the Planeteers will be worried about a decline in air quality from people farting out fried chicken nail polish from KFC. I just hope that with all the updates, they don’t modernize Captain Planet’s aquamarine mullet. Captain Planet won’t be the same with a sloppy green manbun!