There are very few places on this planet where you can put on a crown, eat food with your fingers, drink beer, and cheer for warriors engaged in deadly combat. But one place you can do that is Medieval Times, a themed dining experience probably best known for its appearance in Jim Carrey’s The Cable Guy. It’s one of those IPs that everyone knows but has yet to be tapped by Hollywood. Until now.
Deadline reports that Paramount is “in early development on a live-action, four-quadrant, family comedy” based on the restaurant chain. Blaise Hemingway (Vampires vs. The Bronx) is writing the script and Eric Appel (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) is directing. Here’s the official logline: “When a struggling employee at the Orlando Medieval Times accidentally unleashes a real 9th-century knight, along with an ancient evil necromancer, he has to team up with the feral warrior to save the castle, then the world, and finally win the respect he’s always craved.”
Medieval Times first came to North America in 1983 and quickly became a success with venues from coast to coast. If you grew up in the 1980s, you’d be hard-pressed not to have seen its commercials all over television. Guests are separated into color-coded sections so they know who to cheer for while eating and drinking all types of food, often without silverware, to really bring home that “medieval” theme. The color-coded knights then joust on real horses, swing swords and maces, and everyone has a great time.
Apparently, the restaurant chain actually first sold the rights to make a movie back in 2013, but it never came to be. How exactly this package came together, we don’t know, but it certainly sounds like a lot of fun. A clever take that stays in the spirit of the brand, but also makes it a bit more exciting and sprawling.
And no, we weren’t going to let you leave this article without embedding the Medieval Times scene from The Cable Guy. It’s far from the only time we’ve seen Medieval Times in films or TV, but, as you’ll see below, it’s by far the most expansive.
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