I felt like simply reposting my “Jem and the Holograms but this one confuses me even more considering we’re talking about a property from the mid-’80s that hasn’t had a footprint within popular culture for 26 years. This isn’t like “G.I. Joe” or “Transformers”, to my knowledge this show disappeared entirely and now director Jon M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) who seems to be carving out ’80s nostalgia as his cinematic M.O. will direct a live-action adaptation.
Written by Ryan Landels (“The LXD: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers”), the film will center on Jerrica Jem Benton (“Nashville” and Sharknado star Aubrey Peeples), an orphaned teenage girl who becomes an online recording sensation, and she and her sisters embark on a music-driven scavenger hunt – one that sends them on an adventure across Los Angeles – in an attempt to unlock a final message left by her father.
Disney Channel stars Stefanie Scott (“A.N.T. Farm”), Aurora Perrineau (“Pretty Little Liars”), Hayley Kiyoko (“Lemonade Mouth”) make up the rest of Jem’s girl band, that being Kimber, Shana and Aja respectively, while Ryan Guzman (Step Up: All In) will play the Holograms’ road manager Rio and both Juliette Lewis and Molly Ringwald have joined the cast, both in unspecified roles.
Universal is distributing the pic, currently expected in 2016, so I guess we’ll have to wait a while to see just how lucrative this really is. I know my younger sister used to watch the show, but do girls who are now 26 years older still have an affinity for a cartoon from their childhood that came and went after only three years? The way people are reporting on this movie makes me think they might, but I’d be shocked if they did.
