Submitted on: 01/18/2011 by
Dustin Toms
Anyone who spends any amount of time on Operation Sports most likely knows all about the "Madden Curse" and its legacy. The curse comes up every time a new Madden cover athlete is announced -- and with good reason. But now Electronic Arts is ready to take the curse to a whole new level. Madden Curse: The Movie.
The movie will follow a one-time Madden video game champion who is forced out of retirement just as he finds himself on the corner of the game's cover. With his face gracing that small corner, the curse hits him.
Let's be clear here: This premise makes absolutely no sense.
EA is attempting to turn this movie into a comedy, but how can someone watch a movie for 90 minutes when it is about some dude who is no longer good at Madden? The idea sounds fun enough at first I suppose -- and I'm sure most of us here would watch it -- but unless the folks at EA can think of something to spice up the plot a little bit, this movie will crash and burn.
So how can we make this movie better? Here are a few ideas to get people thinking.
The Madden Curse hits NFL players, not the consumers who put countless hours into the virtual NFL game. EA has the rights to the NFL license, so the company should use those rights and have all the logos/teams/names involved in the movie. In other words, create a superstar and put him on a real team. Start off the movie with this player making the game-winning play in the Super Bowl, then roll into an opening credit montage of the player earning MVP and the Madden cover. Follow that opening up with the injury, and you got a movie.
2. Go artistic, make it a documentary
I would buy this idea in a heartbeat. Simply put, create a documentary featuring the players affected by the curse. You could have a candid interview with Michael Vick talking about breaking his fibula a day after the game was released. You could speak with Daunte Culpepper falling from grace as soon as he donned the purple and gold at retailers everywhere. You could even speak with LaDainian Tomlinson about how he turned down the cover because he was scared of the curse. And last but not least, you would have to speak with Barry Sanders for unofficially starting the curse with his retirement.
3. Go old school, remake Little Big League
Remember that movie about the kid who inherited the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather? Recycle that story, but with the NFL. Have the kid be a long-time Madden gamer who is all about realism and simulation, and who also happens to play the game nonstop. Now think of a way he can become the owner of a team, whether it be via inheritance or just dumb luck. From there the movie should be all about the kid successfully owning and running a franchise thanks to the strategies he picked up while playing Madden.
4. Stick with gaming, ditch the movie
Don't bother making the movie, EA. It won't make it to theaters, and it will be one of those random straight-to-DVD releases nobody hears about. The only people remotely interested in the movie will be Madden gamers, and even most of them probably do not care. Simply put, I just can't see the original premise working as a full-length feature film.
OK OSers, let's chat. What do you think would be a great angle for the Madden Curse movie?
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