News The Magic School Bus Elizabeth Banks to Play Ms. Frizzle in The Magic School Bus Live-Action Adaptation Legendary is looking to make a live-action feature film based on the classic children’s books By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on June 23, 2026 Photo credit for Elizabeth Banks: Empire Movies, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Comment 0 Share New Share Photo credit for Elizabeth Banks: Empire Movies, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Buckle up! The Magic School Bus will be heading to a theater near you. Today, Legendary Entertainment announced (via Deadline) it’s working on a live-action feature adaptation of the children’s book series written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. Elizabeth Banks (director of Cocaine Bear and actor with numerous credits, including playing Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games films) is on board to produce and play teacher and bus driver, Ms. Valerie Frizzle. Rob Letterman (Detective Pikachu) is also attached and tasked with writing the initial treatment and directing. This isn’t the first adaptation of The Magic School Bus series. In the 1990s, PBS had an animated show based on the books, with Lily Tomlin voicing Ms. Valerie Frizzle and a theme song courtesy of Little Richard. Another animated series, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, released seasons on Netflix from 2017 to 2021. In it, Tomlin once again voiced Valerie Frizzle (who was called Professor Frizzle on the show) and Kate McKinnon voiced Prof. Frizzle’s younger sister, Ms. Fiona Felicity Frizzle. In the movie realm, Universal has held the rights to adapt the books, and in 2020, Banks, Scholastic, and producer Marc Platt were working on a project there. That effort apparently fizzled out (no pun intended), and Legendary picked up the rights, with Banks, Platt, and Scholastic remaining involved via the new endeavor. The Magic School Bus books (and television shows) are educational entertainment staples for younger children. Each story sees Ms. Frizzle take her students to places like the inside of the human body, the age of the dinosaurs, the ocean floor, and the center of the Earth (did I mention the bus is magical?). Where the new movie’s Magic School Bus will travel remains unknown, including if/when it will premiere in theaters. [end-mark] The post Elizabeth Banks to Play Ms. Frizzle in <i>The Magic School Bus</i> Live-Action Adaptation appeared first on Reactor.