Judd Apatow has been attached to direct the upcoming movie Cola Wars about the battle between Coke and Pepsi for market share in the 1980s, reports Deadline. Steven Spielberg will produce.
The project is currently in the early stages of development at Sony, which reportedly acquired it for over $1 million in April. Ben Queen and Jason Shuman are set to write Cola Wars. Shuman co-created the Apple TV+ series Acapulco and served as an executive producer on Winning Time, the HBO series about the 1980s Showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Deadline previously described the movie as a behind-the-scenes account of “Pepsi’s attempt to challenge Coca-Cola’s century-long reign as the world’s top cola, sparking the unforgettable ‘Cola Wars’ of the mid-1980s.” This could include the filming of a 1984 Pepsi commercial during which Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire and the disappointing introduction of New Coke.
Cola Wars has also drawn comparisons to Ben Affleck’s Air, based on Nike’s creation of Air Jordans basketball shoes.
Apatow’s last feature film was 2022’s The Bubble. Next up, he has a two-part HBO documentary on Mel Brooks. Meanwhile, Spielberg most recently directed The Fabelmans and is set to helm an untitled movie at Universal currently slated for release in May 2026.