Paramount Just Announced They Are Making A 'Creepy Crawlers' Movie And We're So Confused
Who else remembers playing with Creepy Crawlers all the time? That iconic burnt plastic smell, those gross little bug molds, and of course the Plastigoop.
The original Creepy Crawlers were actually kind of a nightmare. Between the burning hot oven, the toxic goop, and the scalding metal, there was a lot to be afraid of. I mean, none of us were, but we probably should have been.
How it started
When it originally came out in 1964, the Creepy Crawlers Thingmaker came with a small oven that reached 350 degrees. That's right, just as hot as a real oven. You would have to pour in this "Plasigoop" gel that came in all kinds of colors and you could make a bunch of cool designs in your bugs.
Here's the thing though, that Platigoop from 1964 was super toxic - especially when heated up. So there were all these kids who happily made themselves some bugs, but when they went to cook them, the goop gave off noxious fumes that made everyone in the immediate vicinity sick.
It wasn't just the Plastigoop though, because the molds were made out of metal, you obviously were going to end up with scalding hot trays when you pulled them out of the 350 degree oven.
You just had a little spatula type thing to get it out of the oven so you had to be super careful. Obviously we weren't though, and a lot of us ended up burning our fingers.
The thing was none of us cared that it was a tiny death trap. We had weird bugs and creatures to make and we weren't about to let a little bit of noxious fumes stop us.
They tried to fix it
Over the years they changed the recipe, and they even made edible versions of the goop so you could eat your creations. Apparently that was a thing some of us wanted to do?
When they did the big redesign, they changed the molds into a plastic material so they wouldn't burn kids, and they reformulated the Plastigoop so it wouldn't be toxic. Apparently kids liked the dangerous ones better because they soon went out of production.
But finally it came back
But the 90s saw their resurgence with a new light bulb heater system like the Easy Bake Oven and it all worked out great. They even got a cartoon for two whole seasons!
And while it's been a long time since any of us made a Creepy Crawler, we will soon be able to watch a movie of them.
There will be a Creepy Crawlers movie
Variety revealed that Paramount has acquired the rights to the iconic game, and plans to turn it into a movie.
Obviously this has worked in the past with movies like Transformers, which has become an enormous franchise with five movies already out and another two set to drop within the next two years.
It also worked with G.I. Joe, but not quite as well. They had two movies come out a few years ago, but they were not quite as popular as the robots in disguise.
It doesn't always work though. When the Battleship movie based on the board game came out, their $220 million budget was only barely recovered. Most of their money was actually earned in South Korea, but in America it never really took off.
So far, all we know about this new Creepy Crawlers movie is that it will be produced by Neal H. Moritz. He was responsible for Fast and Furious and 21 Jump Street so he seems to have a knack for action.
They haven't revealed the plot yet, but if they have someone who is specializes in action movies, I would assume it'll be something to the effect of the bugs are going to come to life? That's my only guess for now, but who knows!
Do you think you would be interested in a Creepy Crawler movie?
Seriously the history of these machines is pretty wild, so even if it's a documentary it might be pretty interesting. Highly unlikely, but it'd be pretty crazy!
We really grew up with a lot of creepy toys didn't we? I wonder if kids today would like them or if they would end up totally traumatized.
Source - Variety