We all knew this was coming. Wrestling Czar Vince McMahon has set up his own movie company called WWE Films (appropriate name). Apparently the company will make movies with budgets up to $20 million and will (surprise surprise) feature his wrestling superstars.
Now, before we all poo-poo this idea, keep in mind that Vince McMahon single handedly turned professional wrestling into the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry that it is today. He knows an awful lot about entertaining people. We should expect no less from his films.
Also keep in mind that wrestlers are by definition actors. All of them playing a role (and most of them will play several different ones during their careers) in front of millions of people every single week. Is that the same thing as REAL acting… no, it’s not. But it’s a hell of a lot closer to the real thing than 50 Cent.
The Good folks at Monsters and Critics offer us this tid bit from Variety:
Steve Austin will make his screen starring debut later this year in the WWE-financed “The Condemned,” a Rob and Andrew Hedden-scripted drama that casts Austin as a framed ex-cop given a reprieve from death row when chosen to compete on a fight-to-the-finish reality show.
McMahon has also clinched a deal with 20th Century Fox to distribute his first film, “The Marine”, an action flick starring John Cena. In addtition he has signed up with Lions Gate Films for “Goodnight”, a horror starring villainous wrestler Kane.
Having mentioned all of the positive things above, let me also say this. The only thing that worries me about this whole experiment is that fact that it has “XFL” written all over it. The XFL had some fantastic ideas for presenting the game of football, but ultimately it crashed and burned. It will be interesting to see if this produces some fun cheesy action entertainment… or another total failure and embarrassment (ie XFL) for Vince McMahon while venturing outside of the squared circle.
