Here’s something you probably didn’t expect to hear today: Judd Apatow and Steven Spielberg are making a movie together! That’s right. The director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is making a movie with the director of numerous classics such as “Jurassic Park,” not to mention one of the more prolific producers to ever do it. So, what are these two very unique titans working on together? What tale could possibly warrant such a collaboration? The tale of Coke vs. Pepsi, of course. We’re not joking. This is real.
According to Deadline, Apatow is set to direct “Cola Wars,” a film that will chronicle Pepsi’s challenge of Coca-Cola as the number one soda in the marketplace, which began in the ’80s. Spielbeg’s Amblin Entertainment is set to produce the film, which is set up at Sony Pictures. The studio paid $1 million for the project earlier this year, which included a complete pitch. While we don’t have a full synopsis for the film, the outlet describes the project thusly:
“The true story of Pepsi’s attempt to challenge Coca-Cola’s century-long reign as the world’s top cola. It uncapped the ‘Cola Wars’ of the mid-1980s, which included everything from Michael Jackson’s fiery mishap to the New Coke debacle, as the ultimate underdog tale of history’s most iconic second-place contender (Pepsi) vying for the No. 1 spot (Coca-Cola).”
Jason Shuman (“Winning Time”) and Ben Queen (“The Addams Family 2”) are penning the screenplay. As the pitch reveals, there is plenty to go over here. New Coke was an epic disaster, one that was recently briefly revived thanks to the success of “Stranger Things.” There’s also the Michael Jackson incident that was alluded to, as the pop star was burned while filming a Pepsi commercial in the ’80s. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s all about how Apatow, with Spielberg’s help, manages to wrangle the material on screen.
Can Cola Wars be the next Air? Or is it the next Unfrosted?
On the one hand, a movie about Pepsi vs. Coke sounds a bit ridiculous. On the other hand, it’s not all that hard to see why Sony would go in on something like this. Heck, it was compelling enough to get Spielberg’s attention. Case in point, Ben Affleck’s “Air” became a genuinely great film last year, and it was just about the creation of the Air Jordan sneakers. There was also IFC’s criminally underrated “BlackBerry,” which chronicled the rise and downfall of the infamous handheld smart phone. Executed correctly, movies about how culturally relevant stuff happened can be supremely entertaining.
Then again, this could also go the route of Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix comedy “Unfrosted,” which was met with middling reviews earlier this year. That film looked at the rise of Pop-Tarts through a fictionalized lens. Apatow’s involvement, however, suggests it won’t be so over-the-top. At the very least, it will probably be grounded in some form of reality. Even something as silly as the director’s “The Bubble” had a basis in what was going on in the real world. Plus, Sony turned the GameStop saga into a widely acclaimed film in “Dumb Money” last year.
All of this to say, the pieces are in play to turn this into something more than a greatest hits recreation of ’80s marketing ploys from two giant soft drink companies. Sony saw something in it. Spielberg saw something in it. Apatow sees something in it. One has to imagine there’s potential here. We’ll see how it all shakes out.
“Cola Wars” does not currently have a release date, but stay tuned.
