While this inexorable misfortune has cast a shadow over the video game for years, a similar curse has befallen on Hollywood and its ever-growing assembly line of musical biopics.
Long gone are the days where a full-on film on The Jacksons, like 1992’s An American Dream, could get a small-screen adaptation without a slew of controversy. In fact, considering the interminable blowback from critics that often accompanies most musical biopics these days, it’s still pretty crazy how that Jackson 5 film was able to come into fruition. Same goes for 1997’s Selena starring a then-burgeoning Jennifer Lopez. At any rate, what was once an exciting thing to hear about and then see one-time in-the-works biopics grow into the full-on film adaptations, like 2005’s Walk The Line, has now changed into announced biopics immediately getting scrutiny. Hence, the curse.
The recipe used to be fairly simple: choose a lionized musician with an amazing story (whether tragic, triumphant, or both), add in their catalog of hits, round up some talented actors and boom: start filming and eventually, if all things are well, roll credits. As of late, that formula has been far from easy, as now you have families and estates suing film companies, denying access to catalogs, and even disapproving the stars chosen to portray these musicians.