A wild chase has ended with Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps and Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions being chosen as the producers to shepherd a movie adaptation of Be More Chill, a Broadway-bound musical that became a viral sensation with young audiences even before its recent Off-Broadway staging. Already, music from the high school-set sci-fi musical has generated an unprecedented amount of song streams.
Many producers chased this one over the past couple of days. Among the producers I’ve heard were Color Force’s Nina Jacobson, Imagine Entertainment, Michael De Luca, Marty Bowen’s Temple Hill, Scooter Braun, Jennifer Todd and Bob Zemeckis’ ImageMovers. Next step will be to enlist a studio. Both 21 Laps and Berlanti have their first look deals with Fox.
The musical has music and lyrics by Joe Iconis (NBC’s Smash), with book by Joe Tracz, and it revolves around a nerdy, bullied high school junior who tries to up his social status from the loser he feels like. His father, who is so depressed he won’t even put on pants, personifies the hopelessness. While he seems on a good enough track by following the girl he likes into joining the school play — a post-apocalyptic Midsummer Night’s Dream with zombies — Jeremy is persuaded by a bully to take a short cut to being cool. That comes in the form of a pill called a SQUIP, essentially a computer chip that embeds itself into the brain and tells kids exactly what to say and do to become popular. (In Jeremy’s case, his customized SQUIP guru, invisible to everyone else, looks and sounds just like Keanu Reeves). While it overcomes Jeremy’s wimpier tendencies, the short cut to coolness raises issues of conformity, mind control and Mountain Dew. It is all based on a cult YA novel by Ned Vizzini.
Much of the deal still has to be worked out, including which studio acquires the rights. But there is time, considering that performances don’t begin until Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019, with an official opening on Sunday, March 10, at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, with Stephen Brackett directing. This follows an Off-Broadway run that was sold out before its first performance, fueled by the power of social media.
Movie adaptations of hit musicals don’t usually materialize until years after lucrative stage runs, but this one looks like it has a strong shot at succeeding. Levy and 21 Laps’ Dan Cohen will produce with Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. 21 Laps CE Becca Edelman will supervise production for the producer. Director of development Mike McGrath and director of production Jimmy Gibbons brought the project to Berlanti Productions and will supervise it.
TV kingpin Greg Berlanti will no longer direct two projects set up by Fox, the Jackie Kennedy drama “The Editor” and movie musical “Be More Chill,” but both will move forward with Berlanti producing.
So the movie is still on at Fox just with Berlanti relinquishing the director’s chair? I’m surprised it’s happening at all as the musical ended up flopping on Broadway. But of course so did The Prom and that’s getting a big, star studded Netflix adaptation
The world’s gone a bit upside down it seems, at least in the realm of movie musical adaptations.
UmbrellaFish wrote:So the movie is still on at Fox just with Berlanti relinquishing the director’s chair? I’m surprised it’s happening at all as the musical ended up flopping on Broadway. But of course so did The Prom and that’s getting a big, star studded Netflix adaptation
The world’s gone a bit upside down it seems, at least in the realm of movie musical adaptations.
Two of 20th Century Fox's biggest recent hits were "The Greatest Showman" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", so I can see why Disney would be interested in the studio continuing to make musicals. Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" is already set to be Fox's big Christmas movie next year and I know Eric Idle is also developing a film adaptation of "Spamalot" at Fox.
"There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed." - Casey Newton, Tomorrowland
