Another Odyssey Movie in Works After Christopher Nolan Film

Just as Christopher Nolan prepares to unleash his star-studded take on Homer’s ancient epic, another Odyssey movie has begun charting its own course toward the big screen, and this one comes with a built-in army of millions.

Viral Epic musical to be adapted into an animated movie

Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer whose name became synonymous with blockbuster franchises like Top Gun and Pirates of the Caribbean, has teamed up with Jorge Rivera-Herrans to transform Epic, the viral musical sensation born from The Odyssey, into an animated feature. The project also counts Atlantic Music Group president Kevin Weaver and Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films among its producers.

The timing appears almost poetic. Nolan’s live-action Odyssey movie, releasing on July 17, has already started chatter as a potential box office titan. Meanwhile, Epic comes with a passionate following cultivated entirely online, suggesting Homer’s ancient tale has reached a cultural peak unseen since the poet first recited it in the eighth century B.C.

Rivera-Herrans launched Epic as his senior thesis project at the University of Notre Dame. During the pandemic in 2021, he began documenting his creative journey on TikTok, releasing the documentation as serialized musicals the following year. The self-released EPs climbed fast to number one on iTunes and dominated soundtrack charts, with Epic once claiming nine of the top ten positions.

Moreover, the musical struck a chord with younger audiences by filtering the warrior’s monster-filled voyage home through a lens made out of anime, video games, and modern musical theater. Fans participated in a global casting process and flooded social platforms with animatics, generating over 4 billion streams and 7 billion short-form views.

Rivera-Herrans famously rejected lucrative label offers until Weaver, after two years of courtship, brought Epic under Atlantic’s wing. CAA plans to begin shopping The Odyssey animated movie to studios and streamers as early as next week.

All in all, the project remains in its earliest stages, but it already carries the weight of a digital phenomenon ready to sail from phone screens to theaters (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Source: Comingsoon.net