Stephen Curry Has Joined This '90s Video Game Movie No One Saw Coming
Video game adaptations have been getting a lot of love lately. Everything from the "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies to new streaming series like Netflix's "Cyberpunk Edgerunners" and "Arcane" have been surprisingly well received given the historically poor track record that attempting to adapt gaming IPs to film has had in the past. This trend isn't showing any sign of stopping either, as there appear to be several more projects on the way. Fans eagerly anticipate the upcoming "Mario" movie, and now it seems that Amazon is looking to get a piece of the action as well.
It was recently announced that Amazon Studios is currently in the process of creating a "ToeJam and Earl" movie. That's right; the two iconic alien rappers from the planet Funkotron will be crash-landing onto the streaming platform sometime in the future. The news of the adaptation comes from The Hollywood Reporter. The exclusive report also stated that the script is being written by "Hotel Transylvania 4" writers Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo. That's encouraging, given that game's unique brand of humor. Not only that, but Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry will be attached to the film, too.
ToeJam and Earl are bringing back the groove
Stephen Curry may be most well-known for his place in the NBA, but he is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Unanimous Media. A group whose mission is to "develop, create, and distribute compelling family, faith, and sports based content for all media platforms." It's unclear precisely what role Unanimous Media will play in creating the film, but it has also recently launched an initiative called Pathway Alliance. This is intended to bring more diverse voices to the TV, film, documentary, and podcast spaces (per Deadline). It's possible that Amazon has hired Unanimous Media as consultants in this capacity, though neither party has made a statement as of yet.
It's still early days for the project,t and not much else is known about its production, but the very fact that it's being made is undoubtedly interesting. The "Mario" and "Sonic" franchises getting new film adaptations isn't really a surprise to anyone given that their titular characters have essentially been the mascots for their respective developers since their conception in the late '80s and early '90s, but "ToeJam and Earl" is different. The Sega action game series from Johnson Voorsanger Productions was immensely popular, but it never really received the same levels of mainstream success. Hopefully, the movie will give these beloved characters the level of care and attention that fans have been waiting 30 years to see.