New Poll: Let’s Build a Sports Movie
What are the key elements needed to make a project successful in 2025?
Hello again!
After F1’s global success, I’m sure a lot of us around Hollywood are thinking about how we can follow the same formula (A-Lister + Drama forward script + ??? = Profit??) to box office success. But I think we can get and stay ahead of the curve with some more left-of-center approaches.
Obviously sports movies can be about much more than the sport itself, and subsequently have the potential to capture a truly massive audience. My favorite example on the literary side is Hanif Abdurraqib’s THERE’S ALWAYS THIS YEAR, a book of essays exploring the deep and far reaching roots that basketball has in the American psyche. This was one of my favorite books of 2024, even as someone who doesn’t really follow basketball.
In the past few years, swaths of new fans have been popping up in the camps of all major sports leagues. I’m fairly new to following sports myself, (Caps 2026!! Tom Wilson hasn’t done anything wrong ever in his life!!) but from where I’m sitting I can see a few forces feeding these migrations. I think people are looking for more events to go to and more community connection post-COVID, (this is what got me into hockey), and I think there have also been some grassroots, meme-inspired movements grown out of social media. (See this bit from SUBWAY TAKES about the WNBA.) On the literary side, there have been a TON of novels - romance novels, in particular - that take place in the world of hockey, F1, and more. The Seattle Krakens even leaned into this particular movement in 2023 by inviting authors in this space to games as special guests. (Although it did get weird, no way around that, unfortunately.)
My point is, in 2025 there are more viewers ready to consume sports content than ever. And there are plenty of ways into a good sports movie - let’s discuss what will work best in the current market:
Thanks for your input - see you next time!
Would love to see some more historical sports non-fiction as well! The Russian Five by Keith Gave would make an incredibly movie (current Russian politics aside).