Live-Action ‘Ben 10’ Movie Receives Disappointing Update

It's been over a decade since fans last heard any updates about the live-action ‘Ben 10’ movie, originally announced 13 years ago by Variety. Despite the long silence, many fans remained hopeful the film would eventually be made. Unfortunately, it's time to let go of that hope, as the movie has now been confirmed to no longer be in development. 

Producer Steve Richards, who was originally attached to the project along with Warner Bros., recently confirmed this while promoting his latest film, ‘The Killer's Game’, which stars ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ actors Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff. When asked by The Direct if the live-action ‘Ben 10’ movie was still happening, Richards responded, "No... When I was working with Joel Silver, we had the rights to that, and, yeah, that expired... But it should get made, right?"

Image Courtesy: Netflix

Richards is right — a live-action *Ben 10* movie has great potential, given the popularity of the animated series. However, unless Warner Bros. regains the rights, the movie won't move forward with Silver and Richards. At one point, Ryan Engle was set to write the script, and actors Bobby Moynihan and Shawn Mendes were cast as Shock Rock and Cannonbolt, respectively.

Richards, who has worked on several high-profile projects, most recently produced ‘Freelance’ (2023), an action-comedy starring John Cena, and ‘Come Away’ (2020), a fantasy drama featuring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo. His past work also includes collaborations with stars like Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones on ‘Just Getting Started’ (2017), and Sean Penn, Idris Elba, and Javier Bardem on ‘The Gunman’ (2015).

Sadly, the live-action ‘Ben 10’ movie is officially no longer in the works. For now, fans can revisit the 2016-2021 ‘Ben 10’ series, currently streaming on Netflix.

–Farheen Ali