The Best Sci-Fi Fantasy Series of the '90s Is Coming to the Big Screen for the Very First Time

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Published Jun 23, 2026, 1:23 PM EDT

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

It's time to gas up the bus. The beloved picture book series The Magic School Bus is rolling up to the big screen, courtesy of Legendary Pictures. The studio has already recruited a notable name to drive the bus.

According to reports, Elizabeth Banks will produce The Magic School Bus and star as Ms. Frizzle, the elementary school teacher who leads her class on a series of improbable field trips on the titular conveyance. She was first signed on to the project back in 2020, when Universal had the rights to the property and planned to make a live-action-animation hybrid film; Legendary has now acquired the project, with Banks in tow. It's the latest project for the ever-busy Banks, who played the shrunken title character of The Miniature Wife on Peacock earlier this year, and is set to star alongside Ted Danson in a new Apple TV comedy series. She's also starring in and producing the science fiction thriller DreamQuil, and playing herself in the David Wain comedy Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.

What is 'The Magic School Bus'?

Created by writer Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen, and published by Scholastic, The Magic School Bus tells the tale of eccentric teacher Ms. Frizzle and a sapient school bus who convey her students (including the perpetually morose Arnold) on a series of impossible field trips, taking them into the human body, outer space, under the sea, and much, much more. They gained a new audience when they were adapted into a PBS animated series of the same name; actor and comedian Lily Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle, while the catchy theme song was performed by Little Richard. It was later revived on Netflix as The Magic School Bus Rides Again; Tomlin returned as Ms. Frizzle, while Kate McKinnon joined the cast as her younger sister, Fiona Frizzle.

The Magic School Bus is set to be written and directed by Rob Letterman (Detective Pikachu); it will be his second collaboration with Scholastic Entertainment, as he helmed the 2015 big-screen adaptation of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman will produce for Scholastic, alongside Banks, Max Handelman, and Alison Small for Brownstone Productions; Marc Platt and Adam Siegel for Marc Platt Productions; and Mary Parent, Ali Mendes, and Cale Boyter for Legendary.

A live-action film based on The Magic School Bus is in development; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.