A Dora the Explorer Movie Is Coming From Michael Bay’s Production Company (Naturally)

Whether you want it or not (we reckon it’s the latter), a live-action Dora the Explorer is coming to the big screen. Per THR, the screenplay will come from Nick Stoller (Neighbors), a sensible pick given his recent work writing The Muppets, its 2014 sequel and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. The less sensible element of this is the involvement of (in)famous Transformers film director and pyromaniac Michael Bay, who is producing the film under his Platinum Dunes label, alongside Paramount Pictures.

Bay is joined by his Platinum Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller—the production company has previously rebooted The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, so Platinum working on a movie based on a Nick Jr. show about a young Latina girl embarking on quests with her talking monkey Boots and sentient backpack and map is truly a match made in heaven. Platinum is also responsible for the recent, CGI-heavy, live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.

The live-action movie will not focus on Dora as a young child, but rather as a teenager, as she moves to the city to live with her cousin Diego (a character from the children’s show who also got his own spin-off, Go, Diego, Go!). No director or exact release date have been announced, but THR notes that the project is aiming for a 2019 release.

Our current fancasting has Megan Fox as Dora, Shia LaBeouf as Boots (the actor has prior experience with monkeys), Mark Wahlberg as Swiper, Steve Buscemi as Map, Ken Jeong as Backpack and Dwayne Johnson as Diego.