Tom Hanks to star as action figure Major Matt Mason

Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions will produce a 3D movie based on '60s action figure Major Matt Mason, with the actor looking to take the lead role.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Major Matt Mason is one of three adaptations that Playtone has lined up, the other two being a TV version of Neil Gaiman's American Gods for HBO and film based on Green Day's American Idiot musical.

Major Matt Mason was an astronaut action figure who took part in imaginary adventures on the moon in the 1960s.

After initially being reality-based, the brand verged towards sci-fi territory as Mason took on aliens led by Captain Lazer.

Frequent Hanks collaborator Robert Zemeckis is in talks to direct the 3D live-action film, working from a screenplay by Hanks and Graham Yost.

The film has a tentative budget of $100m. Playtone Pictures previously produced Imax documentary Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon 3D .

Tom Hanks will next be seen in Larry Crowne , which he also directed. It opens on 1 July 2011.

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.