'Just Dance' Movie in the Works

A movie based on Ubisoft's Just Dance series is in the works after Screen Gems acquired the rights to the film.

Deadline reported that Screen Gems will develop a movie based on the hit dancing games, a bid won by the film production studio amid competition from several other studios. There's already a script that's reportedly been made for the movie with Ubisoft Film and Television and Olive Bridge Entertainment developing and producing the movie. Initial reports say that Jason Altman and Margaret Boykin will produce for Ubisoft Film and Television while working with Olive Bridge Entertainment's Jodi Hildebrand and Will Gluck. A director hasn't been confirmed, but it's thought that Gluck might helm the movie.

Ubisoft's Just Dance series has been around for nearly 10 years now with the first one being released back in November 2009, so the franchise has become a known household name for many gamers whether they play it themselves or not. Players have to mimic dance moves on-screen to successfully make it through different songs and receive a grade on their performance. The first few entries in the series were numbered, but after several yearly releases, the names of the games shifted to titles like Just Dance 2014 with the most recent release being Just Dance 2019 that came out in October 2018. The image above comes from that most recent game and shows what players see as they copy the on-screen actions.

The Just Dance games also evolve every year with more of the most relevant and popular songs added for players to dance along with. While the first game started with artists like Elvis Presley and The Beach Boys, the games would later add songs from artists like Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Bruno Mars, BLACKPINK, and other groups.

Interestingly enough, the Just Dance movie from Ubisoft and Olive Bridge Entertainment isn't the only movie based on dancing games that has been announced in recent memory. Late in 2018, it was reported that a movie based on the Dance Dance Revolution games was being worked on by Greg Silverman's Stampede Ventures. The Dance Dance Revolution series is owned by Konami and has found homes both on consoles as well as in arcades where people will most likely have seen it before even if they haven't played it themselves.