Viral Musical Retelling of ‘The Odyssey,’ Getting Animated Movie
It started life in a school dorm room (effectively, technically it was 2,700 years in the past, however we’ll get to that later), gained a multi-million military on TikTok, and earned a real-world report deal.
Now Hollywood is looking.
epicthe musical telling of Homer’s The Odysseyis getting the film remedy due to Jerry Bruckheimer.
Bruckheimer, the mega-producer behind the prime gun and The Pirates of the Caribbean films, has partnered with Jorge Rivera-Herrans, the creator, composer, songwriter, producer, and performer behind the viral sensation, and Atlantic Music Group president Kevin Weaver to supply an animated musical adaptation of the epic, not meant, saga. Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films will even produce.
The undertaking is within the nascent levels, and is to be taken out to studios and streamers for displays by CAA, who represents Bruckheimer, presumably as early as subsequent week. The undertaking could be Bruckheimer’s first foray into animation however not into the world of music. Many of his movies have been musically-inclined and half of popular culture’s soundtrack, going again to Nineteen Eighties basic Flashdance.
The timing could not be higher as Homer has out of the blue turn out to be sizzling in Hollywood. Christopher Nolan is prepping for a retelling of The Odyssey with its all-star live-action characteristic that can open July 17 and is already producing buzz that it might be one of the largest films of the yr. Combined with the feverish following epic has engendered, this story might be on the zenith of recognition not seen because the historical Greek poet first started narrating it in his toga within the eighth century BC
Rivera-Herrans started epic as his formidable senior thesis at University at Notre Dame. Things took off when, through the pandemic, he started posting his artistic course of on TikTok in 2021, then started releasing the sagas as musicals beginning in 2022. The self-released EPs started hitting the no. 1 spot on iTunes after which no. 1 on the soundtrack charts, the place at one level epic occupied 9 out of the highest 10 itemizing.
The serialized music format, re-envisioning the basic story the conflict hero’s gods and monsters-filled decades-long journey dwelling to his spouse and son by a contemporary, immersive lens, struck a chord with millennials and Gen Zers, who fell for the influences of musicals, anime, and video video games. They even bought to take part within the worldwide casting course of. Fans additionally created animatics to go along with the songs, showcasing a spread of types and genres.
More than 4 billion world streams and over seven billion short-form views later, what started as viral social content material advanced into a worldwide phenomenon, redefining how music, storytelling, and viewers engagement can intersect at scale.
The music trade got here calling, with each label courting him in 2023, though Rivera-Herrans rebuffed wealthy presents. That is, till he signed with Weaver’s Atlantic, who spent two years courting the twenty-something. Weaver, whose three-decade profession on the firm noticed him spearhead blockbuster soundtrack tasks together with Barbie The Album, The Greatest Showmanand Suicide Squad: The Albumhelped steer epic from the digital sea and into the shores of the true world, with bodily product and merchandising, racking up hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from an keen fanbase.
Bruckheimer’s boarding was eased by that incontrovertible fact that Weaver labored with the producer on final yr’s F1 The Album, based mostly on F1the Brad Pitt racing film that earned an Oscar nomination for greatest image and gained one for greatest sound. The film grossed over $634 million worldwide.
Rivera-Herrans is repped by Jake Phillips of Greenberg Traurig. Weaver is repped by Alan Sacks of Frankfurt Kurnit.
