Back in December 2022, it was announced via The Hollywood Reporter that Amazon Studios was developing an adaptation of the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis classic ToeJam & Earl, in collaboration with Story Kitchen and Unanimous Media. However, since then, there haven't really been any substantial updates about the status of the project or how it is shaping up behind closed doors.
As a result, we've been curious to find out more about how it is coming along and importantly, whether it was still in development. So we reached out to Greg Johnson, the co-creator of the original Mega Drive game (who is listed as an executive producer on the project), to see whether we could extract any information on how the project is taking shape, and importantly, whether it was still making steady progress behind the scenes.
In response, Johnson replied that he couldn't say much about the project in regards to any specifics about the plot or characters, but what he was willing to share with us was more details about his own role on the film and its relationship with the games.
As Johnson described, he and co-creator Mark Voorsanger are "gratefully on the sidelines" on the project and are more than happy to let Story Kitchen and Unanimous use their own expertise and run with it. However, that doesn't mean they haven't been kept abreast of new developments and different iterations of the script, with Story Kitchen keeping Johnson and Voorsanger in the loop and soliciting feedback on new revisions.
"We’ve been super happy with what they’ve been creating and feel like it doesn’t just stay true to the IP but actually substantially builds on the themes, characters, and lore," Johnson told us. "I can’t talk about story specifics or even direction yet, but I will say that I was initially unsure about how they were going to appeal to both old fans who love the games and to a new audience who’s never heard of it before. The writers and the folks at Story Kitchen have brought so much humor and heart, and so much social satire and meaning, and funky joyfulness that Mark and I have been blown away."
He continued, "We can’t wait to see it happen and get out there. The kinds of messages this movie will deliver are ones I believe the world (especially our society) needs now more than ever."
The original ToeJam & Earl was an action-roguelike that was developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. It focused on two aliens who crashland on Earth and must collect the missing parts of their spaceship to their home planet of Funkotron.
Later, in 1993, Sega released a sequel called ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron that swapped the 3/4 perspective to a more sidescrolling perspective. This was then followed by a 3D action-adventure game for Xbox called ToeJam & Earl: Mission to Earth in the early 2000s.
The latest game in the series, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove, was released in 2019 under Johnson's company HumaNature Studios and was a project that was brought to life through crowdfunding.