One of the perks of being a big sports star besides the free blow and right to keep your job even after you commit heinous crimes, is being a poster boy for assorted products. In the age of electronics, where everyone owns a video game console, getting your face slapped on the cover of a legendary sports sim franchise is akin to having your face chiseled on Mount Rushmore (except, obviously, way more special). The biggest sports franchise in the gaming industry is undoubtedly the Madden series (from Electronic Arts), which puts the NFL in the hands of all the people too out of shape to play the sport for real.
There’s an interesting aspect to this, however and it pertains to the supposed ‘Madden Curse’. What is that, you ask? Well apparently whoever shows up on the cover of the game ends up being injured in real-life. Or in Michael Vick’s case, they get hurt and go to jail. As Bill and Ted would say, “boooooogus”.
It started in 1999 with San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst had the unfortunate honor of being the first person besides John Madden himself to grace the cover. In the playoffs, he broke his fibula and never fully recovered. Since then, other football players have suffered injuries after being the poster boy for the yearly edition of the game, including Vick (2004), Dante Culpepper (2002) and Dorsey Levens (2000).
So what does all this useless football knowledge have to do with a site about films? Well, Electronic Arts has decided to embrace the curse and turn it into the next big hit comedy! [The Wrap]
Here’s what they gave as the plot to the movie, which is tentively titled, get this, Madden Curse:
The story will follow a former Madden video game champion who is forced out of retirement just as he finds himself on the corner of the game’s cover – and subject to the curse.
That’s an interesting twist; instead of it being a football player, they are going with a gamer as someone who is going to possibly suffer from the Madden Curse. In essence, it looks like a movie that will pander mostly to gamers (especially gridiron gamers) and leave the rest of us in the dust. I think the premise is pretty funny though, even if I’m not an NFL fan and I’m interested to see what kind of movie can be made from this.
There is no timetable for any sort of release of Madden Curse as development has only been announced and nothing else. I’ll let you know when that changes.
Do you think this “Madden Curse” exists, and even if you don’t, do you think it’ll make for a clever comedy? Also, another question: do you think this will be an actual feature-length movie in theaters or just a joke movie on their website?