Will Ferrell to star in a movie about eSports

midian182

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Hollywood has never had the easiest of relationships with video games. Movies based on the medium have ranged from the abysmal crap thrown together by Uwe Boll (Alone in the Dark), to the not-that-bad-if-you’re-fan efforts of Mortal Kombat (just the first one), Warcraft, and Tomb Raider. It’s the same story when it comes to motion pictures about gamers – most movies portray us as socially inept losers – so maybe the upcoming Will Ferrell vehicle about eSports will change this. Maybe.

Variety reports that Legendary Pictures, the company responsible for Warcraft, Dead Rising: Endgame, and Steve Jobs, will produce the as-yet-untitled movie. The script, meanwhile, will come courtesy of Funny or Die's Michael Kvamme and WaitListComedy founder Jordan Dunn, who also worked together on the upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants 3.

The movie is said to be in a similar vein as Talladega Nights. Ferrell will play a member of an eSports team whose skills aren’t suffering as he ages. 49-year-old Ferrell’s character is an anomaly in a sport where players retire young due to declining reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

Top eSports teams Evil Geniuses and Fnatic are reportedly in talks to appear in the movie, but their role is uncertain. It’s also unclear whether a real game such as Dota 2 or LoL will appear.

Ultimately, this is a comedy, so don’t expect an overly realistic representation of gamers and the eSports scene. We’ll have to wait and see whether it turns out to be another Grandma’s Boy or something in the same league as Pixels.

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Ok I can Will Ferrell playing this kind of role, however I'm not a fan of esports to begin with. Thus, I will probably not even see the movie.
 
"most movies portray us as socially inept losers"

This may seem like a stereotype, but I would say it's actually pretty accurate... Some of my hardcore gamer friends are pretty terrible people socially, they make due and aren't terrible people, but in no way would I rate them as "normal" on some kind of fictional social scale. There's usually something off about them in one way or another, granted no one is perfect, myself included obviously, but something has to be said about someone who has the ability to get a job but chooses to stay home all day everyday and play a handful of games instead but not get paid for it.

That aside, I see this movie having potential, but it could very easily be terrible. They would need to have a real game featured, but I highly doubt that will happen, licensing for such would be astronomical. Even getting real life esports players would be controversial, how do you make the movie funny whilst not also making fun of these individuals. Maybe I just don't see the life of someone who sits at a computer all day playing one game as being interesting to watch for a feature length film. Now that Grandmas Boy movie, that was funny, but that was for reason that can't be taken seriously "Drive Monkey! Drive!" Still makes me laugh.
 
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