Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: Jon M. Chu to direct musical for Amazon Studios

Last Updated on April 28, 2023

After In the Heights, director Jon M. Chu is slated to helm a couple of musicals for his follow-ups. Firstly, he’s announced to adapt the popular broadway show, Wicked, into a feature film. Now, Deadline reports that Chu will be reuniting with his In the Heights producing partner, Scott Sanders, to develop and shoot the musical treatment of the Old Testament tale of Joseph, who is driven from his home by his 11 jealous brothers in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This will be a new version of the famous Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to be made for Amazon Studios.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group has been seeking to adapt the musical into a film adaptation for a while, and the Crazy Rich Asians director has long dreamt of taking on the task of bringing this vision to the big screen in a classic Hollywood spectacular. Chu is currently filming Wicked in the U.K. for Universal Pictures and Marc Platt Productions. The cast for that production includes Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, and Jeff Goldblum.

Scott Sanders and Mara Jacobs will be producing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Sanders’ production company, SGS Pictures. Chu and Lance Johnson are producing for Chu’s company, Electric Somewhere, and Jane Lee is tasked with overseeing the production on its behalf. Benjamin Lowry is on board to executive produce, along with Rice and Lloyd Webber. The script for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be penned by Daniel Goldfarb.

Per Deadline, “Rice and Lloyd Webber came up with the idea for Joseph in 1968 after being asked by a London school to create a short show for children. The pair went to the Bible’s Book of Genesis for inspiration and wrote a giddy array of numbers infused with a variety of melodies from country and western to calypso to Elvis-inspired rock and roll. Over the years the show has grown from a 25 minute cantata into a full-blown musical comedy that has played seasons in London’s West End and Broadway and tours regularly.”