Stephen Curry Collaborating With Amazon For Movie Based On Classic Game Series 'ToeJam & Earl'

NBA player Stephen Curry is now looking to bring a classic video game series to life in "ToeJam & Earl." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Curry's production company Unanimous Media has signed a deal with Amazon Studios and Story Kitchen to develop a feature film on the classic 1990s game series.

The original games were created by Mark Voorsanger and Greg Johnson. They were about two alien rappers who go to Earth to find a cure for a disease on their home planet that is hurting the planet's rhythm and groove. Writers Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo, who worked on "Hotel Transylvania 4" and the upcoming Disney+ series "Superfudge," are writing the script for the film.

Based on the synopsis of the new movie, the aliens view Earth as a paradise where the music of their culture originated. However, after crashlanding on Earth, they see it's not the haven they expected it to be. However, the great music is there, and now they are on a quest to find as much of the music as possible to save their home planet and Earth as well.

The original "ToeJam & Earl" game was released on the SEGA Genesis console way back in 1991. It spawned a later sequel on the Genesis, "ToeJam & Earl Panic on Funkotron" in 1993. A third game followed much later in 2002 on the Xbox, "ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth." The last game in the series was 2019's "ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove."

Dmitri M. Johnson and Dan Jevons are producing the film for their Story Kitchen banner. They previously helped bring the "Sonic the Hedgehog" franchise to life with great success on the big screen. So it makes sense they'd likely want to explore another nostalgic SEGA game property that was really big in the 1990s.

Curry is co-producing the film under his Unanimous banner along with Erick Peyton and Mike Goldberg producing for Story Kitchen. It will be executive produced by Jenelle Lindsay for Unanimous, Timothy I. Stevenson for Story Kitchen, along with writers Voorsanger and Johnson also attached as executive producers.

Another project Unanimous Media has in the works is a documentary about Curry's rise during the 2008 March Madness season called "Underrated." The film is being released by A24 and Apple.

While video game movies and adaptations in the entertainment space don't have the greatest reputation, there have been some recent success stories. Most notably, the "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies at Paramount Pictures have been wildly successful for Paramount. A third theatrical entry is currently in the works, along with a TV spinoff about Knuckles the Echnida starring Idris Elba.

"ToeJam & Earl" is much more obscure than "Sonic the Hedgehog" at this point. However, the early games on the SEGA Genesis console were very successful, and the characters even became secondary mascots of sorts for SEGA. Based on the premise noted in THR's report, it appears that Curry and the producers are aiming for a similar story as the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie, subbing the aliens ToeJam & Earl for Sonic, with more of a hip-hop and musical style.