Mattel bonks Whac-A-Mole for next toy movie

Or rather, Seth Rogen really whac’ed the mole on the head with that one, as Mattel announced this morning that it is developing a Whac-A-Mole movie with Tri-Star Pictures. “Whac-A-Mole is more than a game—it’s a laugh-out-loud battle of reflexes that has brought joy and a little chaos to families for five decades,” said President of Mattel Films Robbie Brenner in a press release. The company described the project as “a live-action/animated hybrid feature film” but didn’t offer any further details about who might be involved or what a potential story arc could be. 

Mattel bought the Whac-A-Mole trademark in 2008, and it has tried to bring it to the screen at least once already. In 2021, The Wrap reported that Mattel had partnered with Fremantle Media to develop some kind of TV game show based on the IP. (At the time, Adam Bonnett, Executive Producer at Mattel Television said that “the interactive nature and comedic energy of the game makes it a great franchise for episodic television.”) It doesn’t seem like there was much, if any, further news shared publicly about that endeavor; likely, the company decided to move forward with the movie instead and put the game show back in the hole. But you had better believe that IP was going to pop up on the screen sometime.