Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s happening: the frenetic-paced world of competitive gaming is going Hollywood. Legendary Pictures, the media company that brought us Warcraft and Dead Rising: Endgame is making eSports into a major motion picture. An official title hasn’t been nailed down yet, and word of a supporting cast list or an official release date has not been forthcoming, but more and more details are trickling out to the public as production prep begins.
The script will be written by Funny or Die’s Michael Kvamme and WaitListComedy founder Jordan Dunn, so the hilarity bar is already set pretty high. Will Ferrell will star in the film as a professional eSports gamer, in a role many are comparing to “Ricky Bobby” in his NASCAR flick Talladega Nights. At 49 years old, Farrell is an intriguing choice given the young age of real-life gaming competitors who usually retire in their mid twenties. A prediction that this may be a fish-out-of-water type of comedy may not be too far off, and would leave tons of opportunities for humor in the obvious generation gap.
What many fans want to know is which games will be featured in the film. Jon Martindale, tech writer for Digital Trends, muses that “Although League of Legends and Dota 2 are some of the most played in the world, because of their limited prevalence on consoles, they still lack a lot of mainstream crossover. That could mean that the Ferrell movie will stick to a game like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which would offer a broader understanding, but perhaps we’ll see something like StarCraft II take center stage instead.”
Two real-life teams have been chosen to be featured in the movie: Evil Geniuses and Fnatics.
Evil Geniuses got their start as a pro gaming team way back in 1999 (making them one of the longest running North American teams), and since that time they’ve made an impressive $13.5 million in total earnings. Based in San Francisco, Evil Geniuses have had a bunch of major sponsors during their tenure, including Monster Energy, SanDisk and DesignByHumans. Just last week, Evil Geniuses dominated China Top 2016, taking first place in the single elimination tourney.
London based team Fnatic started their group in 2004, and their players hail from all over the world. Over the years, they too have had many major sponsors including MSI, SteelSeries, EIZO, Raidcall and Winamax, and in 2012 became the first foreign team to obtain a Pro Gaming House in Seoul, South Korea. This past July, Fnatic took home second place at the first season of eLeague, and have made nearly $3 million over the life of the team.
The exact nature of the roles of these teams in the movie are as yet unknown, but we can bank on cameos at the very least.
A longtime gamer himself, Will Ferrell participated in a live Twitch video game competition in 2014, raising money for a cancer research charity.
Many believe that eSports’ jump to being featured in movies was only a matter of time as its popularity has exploded. Esports events garner millions of views, and mainstream media (including TBS, ESPN, Playboy and the BBC) has definitely taken note of that, hungry for a piece of that viewership pie. While more mainstream media attention inevitably brings with it persistent ignorance, closed-minded judgment and even agenda-pushing lies, this new spotlight in turn also gives eSports loads of new fans and even further coverage. It’s worth mentioning that more fans tuned into last year’s League of Legends Final than the NBA Finals or even the World Series.
With no official release date on the horizon, it could be awhile before we’re able to actually see the film. In the meantime, check out some of the dozens of existing documentaries on eSports and their real-life stars: the gamers whose on and off-screen adventures they chronicle (a whopping 73 of the best films compiled HERE).
