Movie based on 'Oregon Trail' computer game in early development at Apple
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A famed grade school video game is headed to the big screen.
As first revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, Apple is developing a film based on “Oregon Trail.” The original computer game is set in 1848, giving players the opportunity to channel the thousands who traveled on a wagon road from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
“Created in 1971, the game reached cult status among American grade schoolers by the 1990s as one of the first educational computer games allowed in schools — and for its hilariously dark storylines filled with broken arms, typhoid and dysentery,” The Hollywood Reporter said.
“Oregon Trail” was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2016. It had a revival later in 2022, when it was released on the Nintendo Switch.
According to the entertainment magazine, the film inspired by the game is in its early development phase. Will Speck and Josh Gordon, behind films like “Blades of Glory” with Will Ferrell and “The Switch” with Jennifer Aniston, are set to direct and produce.
Max Reisman and Kenny and Keith Lucas, better known as The Lucas Bros, are slated to write the screenplay. The sibling duo was most recently acclaimed for their writing on the Academy-Award-nominated film “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
The film is said to be an action-comedy.
Similar to “Barbie,” the “Oregon Trail” movie is also expected to include its own original musical numbers. “EGOT” recipients (meaning they have each earned an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award) Benj Pasek and Justin Paul will be behind the songs in the film. Together, they have co-written tunes from “La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman,” Hulu’s “Only Murders In the Building” and more.