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Universal & Judd Apatow Planning The Lonely Island Musical Comedy

by Ethan Anderton
August 7, 2014

Thanks to a jump start on "Saturday Night Live," the comedy hip-hop group known as The Lonely Island has become a viral sensation online. It all started with "Lazy Sunday" and has since spread to hilarious hit tracks like "Dick in a Box" and "I'm on a Boat." Now the musical trio formed by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone are heading to the big screen in a currently untitled comedy at Universal Pictures with Judd Apatow on board to produce. All three of the members will star in the film, but the only story details known at this time are that it will be set in the music world, which makes perfect sense.

If you're not familiar with The Lonely Island for some reason, here's some videos to watch:

THR reports the film will be co-directed by Schaffer and Taccone, which is both surprising and not for two different reasons. First of all, it's unsurprising because Shaffer and Taccone have directed the films that they've written, not to mention a whole slew of the SNL Digital Shorts they wrote during their tenure as writer at "SNL." But it's surprising because Shaffer was at the helm of Hot Rod and The Watch while Taccone directed MacGruber. None of those films were box office successes, even though they all have a loyal following and are sorely underrated, so it seems like a risky move for the studio.

But this truly has the potential to be their first hit, mostly due to the fact that all of the music videos from The Lonely Island have blown up online. And with Apatow producing, this is a no-brainer for Universal. Plus, knowing all the big name, chart-topping, legitimate music talent who are featured on The Lonely Island's albums Incredibad and The Wack Album, they'll have no problem getting tons of music stars to pop up in the film. It's also funny that the project ended up at Universal, because Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone appeared together in a quick in Neighbors, the studio's hit summer comedy from this year. Oh, and The Lonely Island also helped craft "Eveyrthing is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie, so that's cool. Interested?

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