Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver (Die Hard, The Matrix) have been quietly developing a live-action movie based upon the popular kid's cartoon series and merchandising machine Ben 10 for a couple of years, but it seems that the young hero is still no closer to making his debut on the big screen, with The Hollywood Reporter revealing that up-and-coming screenwriter Ryan Engle has now been brought in to work on the script.Having made the Black List with his unproduced screenplay On a Clear Day, Engle was hired by New Line to pen the script for a feature based upon the classic video game Rampage, while he's also written the comic book adaptation The New West for New Regency. Engle replaces Albert Torres (Henry Poole Is Here, Akira) on Ben 10, but it's unclear whether he'll be working on Torres' script, or producing an entirely new draft from scratch.
Created by Man of Action Studios (Ultimate Spider-Man), Ben 10 debuted on Cartoon Network in 2008and has since spawned a number of animated series and features, along with two live-action direct to video movies, both of which were directed by Bill & Ted's Alex Winter. Furthermore, it's also shifted over 100 million toys, pulling in excess of $2 billion in sales, so expect the movie version to do strong business, assuming the franchise is still popular with the young 'uns by the time the movie finally reaches cinemas.