Judd Apatow to Direct Coke-Pepsi Rivalry Movie ‘Cola Wars’ From Steven Spielberg and Sony
Progress on Cola Wars is bubbling up, as the Sony Pictures feature has attached Judd Apatow to direct with Steven Spielberg to produce, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Apatow is set to helm the film that is still in its initial stages of development after the studio bought a pitch for the project earlier this year. Cola Wars is set to focus on the battle for soda supremacy that kicked off in the mid-1980s as Pepsi aimed to challenge Coke’s longtime dominance in the soft drink space.
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Jason Shuman and Ben Queen are working on the script. Spielberg is producing Cola Wars through his company Amblin Entertainment, with Maia Eyre overseeing the film for Sony.
Shuman co-created the Apple TV+ series Acapulco and served as an executive producer on the HBO show Winning Time. Queen earned credits for his writing work on the animated sequel The Addams Family 2 and the two Cars sequels.
Apatow is known for having directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People and Trainwreck. His most recent directorial effort was The Bubble, the 2022 Netflix comedy feature that starred Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny and Keegan-Michael Key.
Films about corporate America have become trendy of late. A recent example includes Amazon Studios’ 2023 title Air, which starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as members of the Nike team involved in landing Michael Jordan’s groundbreaking shoe deal.
Additionally, Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy movie Unfrosted hit Netflix earlier this year and centered on the competition between cereal giants Post and Kellogg’s surrounding the advent of the Pop-Tart.
Deadline was first to report on Apatow and Spielberg joining Cola Wars.
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