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‘Spamalot’ Movie Coming Soon With Eric Idle Writing

The musical adaptation of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is hitting the big screen. 
Monty Python And The Holy Grail
By  · Published on May 4th, 2018

The musical adaptation of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is hitting the big screen.

If you were told Fox is remaking Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you’d fart in their general direction. But what if it’s an adaptation of Spamalot, the stage musical based on the 1975 comedy? According to Deadline, that is what’s coming. The studio that is currently having phenomenal success with The Greatest Showman is “fast-tracking” an “ambitious” big screen version of the Tony Award-winning show.

Eric Idle, the Monty Python vet who wrote the book and lyrics for Spamalot (and co-wrote the music with John Du Prez) is now writing the script for the movie and also producing. Casey Nicholow, who choreographed the stage version and has directed other Broadway musicals including Mean GirlsElf the Musical, and The Book of Mormon (with Trey Parker), will be at the helm. He’s never directed a movie before, but he did choreograph the dances for the animated feature Trolls and he directed a 2013 episode of the TV series Smash.

Like Holy GrailSpamalot is a comedic take on the legends of King Arthur and his knights. There are a lot of differences between the movie and the musical, though I wouldn’t personally know what they are because I’ve never seen the adaptation. Not because I heard it’s “Monty Python lite” from the likes of Holy Grail co-director Terry Gilliam or because I’m against Broadway. Just because I’m more of a movie person, and fortunately now I am able to remain a movie person and still see what this musical rendition is all about.

The news of the Spamalot movie couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. As it turns out, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is actually playing on the big screen across the US on May 6th and May 9th — I’d actually already planned on going to my local Movie Tavern, and if you have one of those or a Galaxy Theatres, Epic Theatres, Showbiz Theatres, or any location of another chain listed on the Flashback Cinema website, you should definitely go and check it out. Especially if you’ve never seen it before.

Otherwise, most of the Monty Python library, including movies and the original TV series, are heading to Netflix sometime this year. They became available in some markets last month (Holy Grail among the offerings), though not yet in America. But when it does, the iconic British comedy troupe is going to gain a whole new generation of fans. And those fans will likely be hungry for more by the time Spamalot hits the multiplex.

When will that be, though? Deadline reports the movie is going to begin shooting in Spring 2019, which doesn’t sound as fast as “fast-track” might have you believe. But even if Spamalot doesn’t arrive in theaters until 2020, that still might be before Gilliam’s long-troubled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote actually finally is allowed to be seen by the public (oh man, I hope that’s just an easy joke and won’t be the case). Hopefully we’re not dead yet by the time it comes out.

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Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.