The ’90s NBA gave us some truly amazing and legendary stories: Jordan’s three-peat, retirement, and three-peat; Reggie Miller battling with Spike Lee during the playoffs; Charles Barkley throwing a guy through a plate-glass window; and, of course, the time Dennis Rodman took a Bulls assistant GM on the wildest weekend in the history of Las Vegas during the ’98 Finals. Now, according to Deadline, this wild tale is going to be brought to the big screen in the form of 48 Hours in Vegas (which is, surprisingly, not a sequel to 48 Hrs.), a buddy comedy that’s being produced by 21 Jump Street gurus Lord and Miller and written by Jordan VanDina. We, to say the very least, are H-Y-P-E-D.
Here’s Deadline on the project’s origins, and some fun extra detail for those who need a little refresher on some deets:
“Everybody had heard the rumors of this crazy story when it first happened in the ’90s, but it was recently given the spotlight again following the success of the Michael Jordan-Chicago Bulls doc ‘The Last Dance’, which premiered to massive numbers last May. The incident was given the full treatment in the doc, with everyone from Jordan to coach Phil Jackson to supermodel Carmen Electra talking about what went down as Rodman took the trip all while the Bulls were trying to complete its second three-peat championship run[…] VanDina penned the script during the pandemic and, once it hit the market, Lionsgate was instantly in love with this idea and all the crazy characters involved in the story, pushing hard to land the rights.”
In addition, we thought we’d share this lovely bit from the Deadline article for you as well. Normally we don’t put laudatory PR-seeking quotes from executives in these pieces, but this one from Nathan Kahane, head of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, was just too good (and full of straight-up office Christmas party energy) to include in its entirety:
“There’s only one Dennis Rodman. In 1998, there was nobody on Earth who’d be more fun — or maybe more dangerous — to party with. And yet that’s not even half of who he is[.] This movie takes you on an unforgettable ride with the myth, the legend, and also the man that Dennis is, behind everything you think you know. We could not be more thrilled to be working with Phil, Chris, Aditya, Ari, Will, and Jordan, and above all, Dennis, whose amazing career and life will make for an off-the-wall hilarious yet completely human and emotional movie. You think you know anything about ’The Worm’? Just you wait!”
No word on when 48 Hours in Vegas will hit, but you better bet we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.