Everyone loves an underdog story. If we didn't, the entire "sports movies" genre wouldn't exist. There's something immensely satisfying about watching a plucky team of losers get motivated and train hard enough to become champions. It's an extremely flexible premise, working in heavy dramas like last year's The Fighter and hilarious comedies like Major League. This new project hopes to fall in the latter category.
Disney and Ben Stiller's production company Red Hour Films has purchased the remake rights to the 2007 documentary Quantum Hoops and plans to turn the true story into a fictionalized comedy, according to Deadline. The documentary, directed by Rick Greenwald, is about the CalTech college basketball team that over the course of 21 years and 245 games never managed a win. The new film will be about the team hiring a "exiled NCAA coach" to try and lead them towards a single victory. The script will be written by Stan Chervin, who wrote the first draft of the upcoming Moneyball.
For those wondering if the movie will have a happy ending, the CalTech basketball team ended their winless streak in February of this year when they defeated Occidental in a conference game. The streak was broken at a grand total of 310 straight losses dating back to 1985. I can actually see a lot of potential in this project provided that they don't go too broad or family-friendly with the premise. Sports movies exist because of stories like this and it would be disappointing if they totally screwed it up. The question is: how long until it's announced that Ben Still will be playing the coach?
