Left: Jennifer Lopez poses for photographers at the 2023 Met Gala, photo by Jamie McCarthy. Right: Bob the Builder floats above Philadelphia’s 2014 Thanksgiving Day Parade, photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo. Photos via Getty Images.
Mattel Films has announced yet another IP-based cinematic venture: an animated Bob the Builder movie produced by Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions. In a twist on the British cartoon TV show of the same name, which ran from 2004–2011 and was rebooted in 2015 for another three-year run, Anthony Ramos of In the Heights fame will star as Roberto (Bob), a builder who travels to Puerto Rico for a construction job. There, he “takes on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build,” according to a press release quoted by Variety. Felipe Vargas has been tapped to write the screenplay; the film’s director has yet to be revealed.
Bob the Builder is just one of many movies based on Mattel IP currently in development, following the massive success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Noteworthy titles include American Girl, Barney (starring Daniel Kaluuya), Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots (starring Vin Diesel), and Polly Pocket (directed by Lena Dunham).
Jennifer Lopez will be next week’s musical guest on Saturday Night Live, promoting This Me… Now, her first album in a decade. It’s due out February 16, with a companion film premiering the same day on Prime Video.
