A live-action adaptation of The Magic School Bus is finally showing signs of movement after being stuck inside Ralphie—sorry, we mean Universal Pictures—for the past six years. Writer and director Rob Letterman (Detective Pikachu) has grabbed the wheel and is taking the film on a field trip to the more hospitable environs of Legendary Entertainment, where the hazards he encounters will hopefully not include any more massive blockages.
In more practical terms, Universal announced a live-action film adaptation of The Magic School Bus, the ’90s animated TV show based on the children’s book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, in 2020. The movie was set to star Elizabeth Banks as Ms. Valerie Frizzle (“the Frizz” to the impertinent children in her class), a kooky science teacher who constantly puts her elementary school students in mortal danger by taking them on unsanctioned field trips to locations such as outer space, the Mesozoic era, and the inside of an internal combustion engine. To do these seemingly impossible things, she uses a sentient, size-and-shape-shifting, time-travelling school bus.
After Universal’s announcement, the film seemingly stalled out. Turns out it wasn’t dead, though—it was just lost somewhere in development hell. Universal has now coughed up the project and given the rights to Legendary Entertainment, which enlisted Letterman to write and direct the film. Banks is still attached to the movie as well.
The original animated series ran for four seasons on PBS between 1994 and 1997. A sequel series, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, ran for three seasons on Netflix between 2017 and 2021. Lily Tomlin voiced Ms. Valerie Frizzle in both series, but in the sequel series, Kate McKinnon voiced Ms. Fiona Frizzle, Valerie’s sister, who took over as the kids’ science teacher after Valerie moved on to higher education.
The Magic School Bus currently has no set release date.
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