‘Cola Wars’ By Judd Apatow.
Comedy veteran Judd Apatow has finally embarked on a new project. A comedic tale about the Cola wars in the mid-1980s. The film was in development at Sony, before Apatow and Spielberg came on board. Apatow will get back in the director’s chair and helm “Cola Wars”. The script will be written by Jason Shuman and Ben Queen. Spielberg will produce through his Amblin Entertainment banner. Sony will distribute.
The story broke out in early September, so no cast or notable crew is attached as of yet. more updates will come in the following months.
Premise: The film tells the true story of Pepsi’s attempt to challenge Coca-Cola’s century-long reign as the world’s top cola. It uncapped the “Cola wars” of the mid-80’s, which included everything from Michael Jackson’s fiery mishap to the ‘New Coke’ debacle, as the ultimate underdog tale of history’s most iconic second-place contender (Pepsi) vying for the No. 1 spot (Coca-Cola).
In February 2024, Sony stepped up with a seven figure bid to acquire “Cola Wars” in a heated auction. Deadline reported the bid to be worth around $1.5 million, while Sony said it was $1 million. still a whopping deal for a pitch by Shuman and Queen.
The script will be written Jason Shuman and Ben Queen. Shuman, whose long relationship with Sony was a big factor here, is the co-creator/writer of Apple’s hit show “Acapulco”. Queen was the writer of “Cars 2” and “Cars 3” for Pixar. (There was an article that revealed that Shuman is a Pepsi guy, while Queen prefers Coke.)
The movie is in early development process, but the ingredients are here for Judd Apatow to make a comedic comeback. In the early-2000’s, no one ruled comedy quite like Apatow. His reach influenced the comedic landscape, from producing “Superbad”, “Pineapple Express” and “Bridesmaids” to HBO’s landmark series- “Girls”. Apatow even turned to be a more-than-decent director, helming these smartly clever, adult-oriented films, such as “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”.
However, in this current culture in Hollywood, Apatow can’t make the films that he used to. The result is that his last few directorial efforts, very safe and mundane works, haven’t been that stellar. His last scripted-feature was 2022’s pandemic set “The Bubble”, the misbegotten pic cost Netflix $50 million. He’s been pitching plenty of projects since then, but no studio wants to greenlit any of them.
But there is some good news for people who crave new Apatow films. Apart from “Cola Wars”, In August, there were reports that the director has signed on to helm a “time-travel romance” for Universal (with whom he has a multi-year deal). The film is said to be about a couple going through a divorce who travel back in time to their Hawaiian wedding to convince their younger selves not to get married. This is a good news, the film very much feels like early Apatow flicks.
“Cola Wars” is a new film in the recent trend of corporate America stories being told. Ben Affleck helmed “Air”, which showed the story of Nike getting Michael Jordan to sign with them, recently Jerry Seinfeld directed “Unfrosted” for Netflix, about the fictional story of creating the Pop-Tarts.
