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The Magic School Bus is officially heading on a field trip to the big screen.
Legendary Entertainment and Scholastic Entertainment, the media division of the children’s book publisher, have announced they’re joining forces to create a live-action feature film adaptation of the beloved children’s book series.
And in the driver seat? Elizabeth Banks will be taking chances, making mistakes and getting messy as the eccentric and adventurous Ms. Frizzle.
According to a press release shared on WebWire, Banks won’t just star as the iconic science teacher, also known as “The Friz.” She’s also set to produce the feature alongside Rob Letterman (Detective Pikachu), who will reunite with Legendary to direct and write the film’s treatment.
The announcement comes as The Magic School Bus celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, having sold more than 90 million books worldwide.
Written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, the series follows Ms. Valerie Frizzle as she takes her young students aboard her magical, shape-shifting school bus for wild, out-of-this world field trips — all in the name of making science fun. Whether journeying through her student Arnold’s digestive system (“No guts! No digestion!”) or venturing into outer space, there were no “normal field trips” aboard the Magic School Bus, much to Arnold’s dismay.
WATCH | Theme Song for The Magic School Bus:
Since its debut in 1986, the franchise’s popularity has also reached cosmic heights, expanding across television and digital platforms.
The most famous screen adaptation would have to be PBS’s animated series, which ran from 1994 to 1997 and starred Lily Tomlin as Ms. Frizzle. Airing in more than 100 countries, the show ranked among PBS’s highest-rated programs for school-age children by the end of its 52-episode run, according to Deadline.
Netflix attempted to recapture the success years later with The Magic School Bus Rides Again, which saw Tomlin reprise her role as Ms. Frizzle while Kate McKinnon played her younger sister, Ms. Fiona Felicity Frizzle. The animated reboot ran for three seasons between 2017 and 2021.
Today’s announcement is not the first time Elizabeth Banks has been linked to The Friz. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she flirted with the idea back in 2020, when a version of the movie was set to be developed by Universal Pictures. After the rights lapsed, the project ultimately moved to Legendary Entertainment.
