While you were enjoying NFL football over Christmas, Amazon MGM released the teaser for David O. Russell’s next film, Madden. And yes, it’s about the Hall of Fame head coach John Madden, but it isn’t about his football career. It’s about how he went from the greatest NFL broadcaster of all-time to the face of the greatest football video game franchise in history.
The teaser shows Nicolas Cage, hamming it up as John Madden. To be fair, Madden was a gigantic ham…or perhaps a turducken. We also see Christian Bale as Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, who was frequently at odds with Madden. Also in the cast are John Mulaney as Trip Hawkins, Sienna Miller as Al’s wife Carol, Joel Murray as Pat Summerall, Kathryn Hahn as Madden’s wife Virginia, and Shane Gillis in an unknown role.
This is Russell’s first film since the disastrous Amsterdam, which lost a ton of money and earned the worst reviews of his career. Russell also wrote the screenplay, tweaking an original draft by Cambron Clark that was on the Black List.
Madden has been in play for ages, with both Will Ferrell and Hugh Jackman attached to the title role at different stages. But it’s finally happening with Cage, and honestly, this looks like it could be a lot of fun…or a disaster. It’s tough to tell.
It appears that Madden will be getting a Prime Video exclusive release on November 26th 2026. Kind of odd that it won’t be in theaters at all, given the star power and the popularity of the video game.
