Alright, so was discussing this in PM with OldNavy, and he said I could post it to get opinions on it!. ITTL, it is May 2009, exactly a year before the 65th anniversary of The Railway Series which, for those who do not know, is the book series Thomas the Tank Engine is based on. In OTL, as well as this one, the series started in 1945.
Last month, OldNavy made a post saying Disney and BrittAlcrofft were having trouble making a new Thomas movie, and the reason is that it would be too much effort to make both an American version, and an international version, of a film. My idea is a film that will not need two full versions, and will only need different VAs, like the show does OTL, a version OTL's The Adventure Begins.
The Adventure Begins, a 45 minute special released in 2015 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the franchise, and which is up on YT by the way, from the offical Thomas and Friends channel, is a simply a retelling of the first two books, The Three Railway Engine and Thomas the Tank Engine/The first 7 episodes of the OG show.
The 45 minute special kinda breezed thru the first book, which was the story about Edward pushing Gordon, and the two stories about Henry and the Tunnel, and more focused on Thomas' book, which are the stories where he is pulled by the express, leaves a train behind, is pushed down the hill by trucks, and rescues James from a crash.
In my opinion, a full fledged movie would be able to give proper focus to both books, and would be a great way to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the franchise ITTL, as well as a way to solve the issue of needing 2 versions of the movie ITTL.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to fully explain the idea, what do you guys think?