Untitled Kobe Bryant movie

[BluBonnet]

+

[Prohibida]

Too soon?

[drb999]

As a long time Lakers fan I’m still in shock over this. Too soon for me.

[BluBonnet]

Now confirmed by Deadline


+

[Prohibida]

Next thing you know, Bugs Bunny will co-star.

[Bubbles-11]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Now confirmed by Deadline

[Show spoiler]

+

From the article:

We’ve confirmed that the Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen written spec screenplay With the 8th Pick, about the behind-the-scenes 1996 NBA drafting of Kobe Bryant has landed at Warner Bros. There is no director attached as of yet.

The project is told from the point of view of John Nash, the General Manager of the New Jersey Nets, and incoming coach John Calipari who really wanted Bryant. However, the New Jersey Nets were a broke organization, and Bryant was an LA Lakers fan. Not to mention, Bryant’s sneaker deal with Adidas would be worth more with the Lakers than had he signed with the Nets. Bryant was being courted to become Calipari’s first NBA draft pick, a move that could have changed the course of the NBA forever. It’s being described as Social Network meets Air meets Moneyball with a thriller bent.

King Richard producers Tim and Trevor White of Star Thrower Entertainment are set to produce with Ryan Stowell, who is the head film & TV at Tom Brady & Michael Strahan’s Religion of Sports, as well as the company’s co-founder Gotham Chopra. Chopra helmed the 2015 documentary Kobe Bryant’s Muse.

[BluBonnet]

Whether it's too soon or not is not for me to say.

But it's not unprecedented - WB released the Selena movie in 1997, just two years after she was assassinated.

[BluBonnet]

Story picked up by the Hollywood Reporter as well...

Kobe Bryant Film in the Works at Warner Bros.

A film project centered around NBA superstar Kobe Bryant‘s journey to the Los Angeles Lakers has landed at Warner Bros., The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen penned the spec screenplay for With the 8th Pick, which tracks the high-stakes process that led to Bryant getting drafted into the NBA in 1996. The project was generating high interest from other studios and streamers before Warners stepped in to preemptively nab it. A director has not yet been attached.

With the 8th Pick is said to focus on the New Jersey Nets and then-general manager John Nash, who held the eighth pick in the draft and considered taking Bryant out of high school. The future Hall of Famer ended up being taken by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th pick before he was traded to the Lakers, where he would win five NBA championships and become an icon of the city.

The project is described as having elements of Moneyball (which starred Brad Pitt) and Air, Ben Affleck’s Matt Damon-starring pic that tracked the beginning of Michael Jordan’s now-legendary partnership with Nike. With the 8th Pick? is said to detail the pivotal process in which slightly different decisions could have changed the NBA’s future.

Bryant was part of the legendary Lakers teams that included center Shaquille O’Neal and coach Phil Jackson. Bryant died in a helicopter crash in 2020 at age 41, as did 13-year-old daughter Gianna.

Sohn is also writing Netflix’s planned John Madden project that hails from Religion of Sports. He is represented by Verve and Lit Agency. Johannensen is repped by Verve and Gotham.

The InSneider was first to report on the film.

[Prohibida]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Whether it's too soon or not is not for me to say.

But it's not unprecedented - WB released the Selena movie in 1997, just two years after she was assassinated.

I was kinda being facetious cause the domino 2020 effect started with Kobe Bryant's death, and that felt like a few months ago.