Cleveland Cavaliers star guard Kyrie Irving hinted at an "Uncle Drew" movie back in October, and now it's official: Pepsi is going to "fully fund development" for a feature-length feature about Irving's alter ego, per Variety:
Sources tell Variety that Temple Hill Entertainment has acquired the feature film rights to Irving's "Uncle Drew" Pepsi commercials. "Skiptrace" scribe Jay Longino is set to write the script and Irving is attached to reprise the role of Drew.
Temple Hill's Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, and John Fischer will produce the film, described as a love letter to basketball. The original Pepsi Max advertisements showed Irving, in full make-up, playing a 70-plus-year-old man, Drew, who would show up to pick-up basketball games and school kids half his age, while also reminiscing about how the game used to be played.
Described as "Blues Brothers" in the pick-up basketball world, Longino's pitch shows Drew and his old squad on the legendary Rucker Park basketball court in Harlem. Years later Drew is talked into returning to the courts to compete in a tournament and goes on a road trip to round the old squad up to play.
If Kyrie hasn't already exploded onto the scene, he's about to.
Also this is much better than Space Jam 2.