by StenFrisk
BuzzFeed is moving into filmmaking, and its debut feature will be about videogames. Ellen Page will star in 1UP, a comedy about esports and GamerGate.
The news comes via The Hollywood Reporter, where it’s revealed the movie is to be the first production from BuzzFeed Studios. Kyle Newman, who made Fanboys, will direct, with a script from Julia York, generally a TV writer, with credits in The Adventures of Puss in Boots and Skylanders Academy. According to the report, the flick will be “in the vein of Pitch Perfect, but set in the world of esports with a GamerGate backdrop”.
The premise involves a college student, Vivian Lee, played by Paris Berelc, leaving the college esports team due to sexism, but then having to form her own team in order to retain her scholarship. Luckily, Ellen Page’s former gaming professional, a previous victim of GamerGate, is around to assist Lee and coach the all-female group to victory against the male-dominated Varsity league. There’s positives and negatives here – Pitch Perfect is a good touchstone for a female-centric comedy about Varsity competition, and Ellen Page is generally great, but movies about videogames are far more miss than hit, and esports and GamerGate together makes difficult subject matter.
Source: pcgames
