Thomas & Friends (Simply referred as Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, or Thomas and Friends) is a long-running British-American television series that ran from 1984 until 2021, with a preschool reboot called "All Engines Go" that premiered later, the same year it ended, based on The Railway Series by the Reverend W. Awdry and later his son Christopher.
It follows the adventures of Thomas, an anthropomorphised tank engine, on the fictional Island of Sodor with fellow engines Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, and several other anthropomorphised engines and vehicles.
In 2010, HIT Entertainment had announced that there would be a film adaptation set in World War II, but however, barely anything has resurfaced about it.
Production[]
On HiT Entertainment‘s website, it was revealed that a film of Thomas and Friends was in production.
This would of mark the second worldwide regular Thomas and Friends film on the big screen the first time being Thomas and the Magic Railroad in 2000, which was a box office bomb.
The film was directed by Shane Acker (who directed the film 9) and was going to be produced by Julia Pistor (who worked on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie) and was going to be written by Will McRobb (The creator of KaBlam!) Josh Klausner (who written Shrek the Third) and Chris Viscardi (who also created KaBlam!).
The film was going to be released in 2010 but pushed to 2011, then to 2012, and finally, the film was pushed to 2013 and then again to 2014, but now, many years from 2014. It's highly likely that the film didn’t get far into production and was cancelled early on.
The only things that have resurfaced are a promo and the film‘s logo
A user on the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki had contacted Shane Acker, and he sadly confirmed to him that the project was now officially scrapped.
Trivia[]
- According to the Sodor Island Fansite (SIF) the script for the film was finished in 2010.
- There was also a teaser sizzler too, which has been on YouTube for a while, and also a Rip-o-Matic trailer is on Vimeo.
- WETA Digital was going to do the CGI animation for this film.
- The film was going to be a pilot for a set of films that would run alongside the official series.
- The film would have a range of Merch geared towards an older audience.
- A possible reason the film was cancelled was the flop that was Thomas and the Magic Railroad and some of the story being similar to one of the side plots of said movie.
- Another reason that this film was cancelled was there was already a Steam and Diesel confrontation in Calling All Engines and Day of the Diesels.
- During production, Mattel bought HIT Entertainment during 2013 and they had to focus on other projects, like Series 17, Blue Mountain Mystery, and King of the Railway.
- It is currently unknown who was going to play Thomas, let alone all the other characters.
- In 2021 new images of an earlier CGI models of Thomas were released with some noteworthy differences, having a brass numberplate instead of a painted one, a more saturated shade of blue, and missing rivets on the valances running board side tanks and bunker that the final model has.
- It would've been the first time Thomas was portrayed with a rear running board dip and Westinghouse air brake pump, which were carried by his basis (LB&SCR E2) in real life but not by him in the television series.
- According to Nitrogen's Production Timeline, character concept art for The Adventures of Thomas was created in October 2009.
Goofs[]
- In the Rip-O-Matic trailer, the Rev. W. Awdry's surname is misspelled as "Audrey."
Story[]
The film would of taken place in London during the Second World War and would of focused on a pre teen boy who has been drifted away from his father. The boy is told about the island of Sodor where they reunite. The film would also have a Steam and Diesel confrontation.