To some, coin-operated arcade machines are nostalgic relics – a throwback to pre-internet entertainment, symbolising carefree childhoods and time lovingly wasted.
In 2007, director Seth Gordon explored the competitive side of arcade gaming and its hardcore players in The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, finding laughter, friendship and an unquenchable desire to be number one. Now, 10 years later, his ode to amusement arcades is being turn into a musical, according to Polygon.
The documentary follows the parallel stories of Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, two blue-collar Americans with a strange affinity for the world’s most famous 8-bit gorilla: Donkey Kong. An arrogant gamer and the self-professed ‘Sauce King’ of Florida, Mitchell couldn’t be more different to the quiet and reserved Wiebe who plays Donkey Kong in the downtime between his night school classes. The two live entirely different lives, their quest to top the global high scores their only overlap.
An huge critical success, praised for using video games as a means of exploring contemporary American life, Gordon’s film seems an offbeat and intriguing choice for a musical adaptation. The King of Kong has music running through it’s core though, with many of its stars being amateur musicians themselves, so perhaps the transition is a natural one after all.
Gordon is currently promoting his latest film, the Baywatch reboot, and though there’s no word yet on when The King of Kong will complete its move from screen to stage, the director has hinted that he has already hit the Push Start button on the script.
Published 26 May 2017
Did E.T. really cause the 1983 Video Game Crash? Michael Leader goes in search of a pop culture myth.
By Chris Blohm
Riffing on the 8-bit icons of retro arcade games, Wreck-It Ralph is strictly B-grade Disney.
By Greg Evans
Raul Julia’s villainous turn in 1994’s Street Fighter is worth savouring.
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
