Jon M. Chu’s career took off after his dazzling visual pyrotechnics on "Step Up 3D." He quickly landed the gig for “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and was in the mix for “G.I. Joe 3” and “Star Trek 3.” Instead, he chose a fairly different left turn: an adaptation of the popular 1980s cartoon “Jem And The Holograms” (though not so different if you consider the cartoons were really in the same time slot as “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers” and animated by the same Hasbro-paid people).
“Jem And The Holograms” is in the can and comes out later this year, and Universal has provided a first look of the girls in the band Hayley Kiyoko, Aubrey Peeples, and Stefanie Scott. Here’s the official synopsis:
As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden. In Universal Pictures’ JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.
Directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up series, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the musical adventure stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis. JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS, based on the iconic Hasbro animated TV series, is written by Ryan Landels and produced by Chu, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, Scooter Braun for SB Projects, Bennett Schneir, and Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro Studios.
“Jem And The Holograms,” also stars Molly Ringwald, Ryan Guzman, and Juliette Lewis. Will the movie translate to teenage girls in a big way like, say, “Pitch Perfect”? Or will it go the route of girl-group rock movies like underseen flops “The Runaways” and “Josie And The Pussycats”? We’ll find out when the movie hits theaters October 23rd.
Why would it translate to the current generation of teenage girls? They didn\’t grow up on this stuff. It\’ll cater to a specific 30-something crowd (female and male – guys out there, don\’t deny it), underperform at the box office and garner middling reviews so the studio can decide whether to shoehorn in a sequel featuring Dwayne Johnson in drag taking over for Peeples.
A Jem and the holograms movie? God has finally answered m prayers.