Avi Arad wants to bring another toy to life -- the popular Robosapiens.  Hot off making a movie about the obnoxious Barbie-lite Bratz toy line (due out this August -- parents beware), Arad is floating an idea for a movie about the remote-control beasties that all the little boys wanted for the holidays this past winter.  The script, which Arad cowrote with Max Botkin, centers on a Robosapien named Toby created by a lonely inventor who builds the robots for what he thinks are humanitarian purposes.  After he discovers his creations are being used for military purposes, he takes Toby and flees.  Cue a series of humorous/exciting mishaps in which the Robosapien is damaged, Toby is found and repaired by an equally lonely eleven-year-old son of a harried single mom.  Arad conceives of it as "a new spin on the Gepetto/Pinocchio legend," but there are strong overtones of "Small Soldiers" and "D.A.R.Y.L." in the mix.  Shooting begins in November for what will probably be a late 2008 release.

There will, of course, be plenty of Toby models available at Target and Walmart to accompany the film's release.

Arad said, "With 'Bratz,' distributors took a calculated leap of faith with us, and now we're asking them to do it again.  I go after intellectual properties, whether they are comics, videogames or toys, and it's about finding the right things with cinematic value, to make movies that have some kind of brand awareness."

(Source: Variety)