Sega superstars ToeJam and Earl are finally getting a movie

This is great, but where’s my PaRappa the Rapper animated series?

Nothing can possibly prepare us for the all-encompassing funk of a movie starring ToeJam and Earl. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a ToeJam & Earl movie is currently in development at Amazon Studios in partnership with Unanimous Media and Story Kitchen.

ToeJam & Earl is just the latest video game franchise getting a movie tie-in. In addition to bigger names like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog getting contemporary adaptations, we’re also slated to see an anime version of Tomb Raider coming to Netflix as well as a live-action version of It Takes Two, which are also being handled by Story Kitchen.

ToeJam & Earl isn’t a game that shared the same success as Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog but remains something of a cult classic largely due to its trippy art style that I can only describe as Nickelodeon-esque (drawn by Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell) plus a soundtrack that sounds like E.T. meets Run-DMC and is just crunchy as hell.

I’m not entirely sure the somewhat obtuse gameplay of ToeJam & Earl is worth focusing on, but the narrative of a couple of weird aliens trying to get their world’s groove back is definitely solid direct-to-digital fodder. There currently isn’t any casting information available about who is set to play our two protagonists, but let’s maybe keep Chris Pratt in the dark about this one.

ToeJam and Earl made their self-titled debut on the Sega Genesis and received a follow-up on the Sega Mega Drive with ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. A third title, ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, was also released in 2002 as an Xbox exclusive. More recently, the series was made available for modern platforms in 2019, with ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove. The original game eventually made its way onto the Sega Genesis Mini, and Panic on Funkotron can be found on the Genesis Mini 2. However, if you’re looking to learn more about the classic entries in the franchise and don’t have either of these consoles lying around, you can currently acquire the first two games digitally on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC as well.