EPIC, the modern musical retelling of The Odyssey which generated so much viewer support on YouTube and TikTok that fans themselves became part of the project, is getting the Hollywood treatment from Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Songwriter/composer Jorge Rivera-Herrans originally intended for EPIC to be his senior thesis for his film, television, and theatre degree at the University of Notre Dame. This was in 2021, during COVID, so he–like many other people–sought community by posting his creative process on TikTok.
By 2022, he began releasing full songs, singing the main part of Odysseus himself. His self-produced EPs hit charts on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, and fans across TikTok and YouTube responded by animating their mind palace versions of what was happening visually during the songs.
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Rivera-Herrans ended up collaborating with a number of those fans, commissioning them to draw official versions of the songs’ story, then sewing all those animatics together into a full movie posted on YouTube:
He also had community help sourcing more than 20 singers and voice actors to participate in the finished version.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, all this attention got the music industry’s ear, and “every label” reached out to him in 2023. Rivera-Herrans ultimately signed with Atlantic Music Group–and now Atlantic’s President, Kevin Weaver, is involved in producing a big-screen adaptation of EPIC.
THR reports the film is in “nascent stages,” but will be an animated musical, just like the YouTube version. Creative Artists Agency, which reps Bruckheimer, plans to shop EPIC around to studios and streamers as early as next week.
This is Bruckheimer’s first animated feature, but he’s produced a number of films with significant musical influence. (You could even argue the aforementioned Pirates has its musical leanings thanks to iconic seafarer’s shanties.)
While it’s probably a safe bet to assume Rivera-Herrans will reprise his role as Odysseus, it’s far too early for true cast announcements or information about who might do the animation work–which means it’s too early to know if any of the fan talent or original voice cast will join Bruckheimer, Weaver, and Rivera-Herrans’s production.
As you know, we’re deep into the era of creator and Hollywood entanglement–and that entanglement is constantly taking new shapes. There’s Markiplier and Iron Lung, Kane Parsons and his A24 Backrooms, The Amazing Digital Circus heading to theaters, and Jacksepticeye producing an animated Bloodborne film.
But this deal hearkens back to VivziePop‘s Hazbin Hotel, which also premiered on YouTube in semi-finished form, with a polished pilot. It was later picked up by Amazon Prime Video, and when the first season went live, it faced backlash for recasting voice actors and changing the original art style.
To be fair, EPIC‘s YouTube film was not nearly as polished as Hazbin‘s pilot; many artists drew in the typical sketchy animatic style, which allows for lots of character movement and expression while cutting down on production time. Whatever animated style EPIC brings to big screens will be different. As for voice actors—that remains to be seen.
Worth noting: YouTube highlighted EPIC in its latest Culture & Trends report while touching on how its platform has become a hub for indie animation.
