A “Magic School Bus” movie is in the works at Legendary with Elizabeth Banks playing Ms. Frizzle

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Elizabeth Banks is ready to take risks, make mistakes and get messy on the Magic School Bus.

Banks is attached to star as adventurous teacher Ms. Frizzle in the live action Magic school bus film, with Legendary acquiring the rights to produce the feature. Rob Letterman will write the treatment and live after working with Legendary Detective Pikachu.

Scholastic, the publisher behind the book series, will produce the books in collaboration with Banks’ Brownstone Productions, Marc Platt Productions and Legendary.

Banks first began releasing a version of the film in 2020, when it was being set up at Universal.

Writer Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen created the books and published the first in 1986. The series followed Ms. Frizzle as she took her class on out-of-this-world field trips in her yellow school bus that transformed into whatever they needed that day, be it a spaceship or a submarine.

Lily Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle in an animated show that ran for 52 episodes from 1994 to 1997, while Kate McKinnon starred in the 2017 Netflix series. The Magic School Bus is back again As Ms. Frizzle’s younger sister. Tomlin also reprized her role in the series, which ran for three seasons and 30 episodes.

Banks is currently on the small screen with The mini wifewhich bowed on Peacock in April and also starred in South by Southwest DreamQuilwhich hit the festival in March.

As for Letterman, he’s already a school vet after helming the publisher’s 2015 magazine year Goosebumps The film stars Jack Black.

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