Bon Jovi are the latest band headed to the big screen. According to Deadline, the New Jersey Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ story will be told in a biopic from Universal Studios, which reportedly won out in a bidding war over several other suitors.
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The studio behind the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton and the Eminem origin story 8 Mile will reportedly have the full participation of band co-founder singer Jon Bon Jovi, as well as access to the group’s 130 million-selling catalog of indelible hits, which includes such classics as “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “It’s My Life,” “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “Bad Medicine,” among many others.
Though a director and casting have not yet been announced, the script will be written by Cody Brotter (Killing Satoshi, The Dukes of Oxy). Producers include Kevin J. Walsh (Manchester By the Sea) and Gotham Chopra, whose production shingle was behind the 2024 Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which featured all the band’s members — including singer Bon Jovi chronicling his nearly career-ending vocal issues and subsequent corrective surgery — and was timed to celebrate the group’s 40th anniversary.
According to Variety, the film will focus on the band’s early years when former Power Station studio gofer Bon Jovi recorded the band’s first single, “Runaway” with some studio players, only to get rejected by all the labels he sent it to. That led to the budding rock star pivoting to hawking the song to rock station DJs in the New York metro area, a number of who bit on the song’s ragged rock charm.
The singer, born Jon Bongiovi, retooled his name and formed a band with some fellow Jerseyites, including keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, late bassist Alec John Such and original guitarist Richie Sambora, who performed in the group from 1983 through 2013. The movie will cover those years, leading up to the release of their breakthrough 1986 LP Slippery When Wet, which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, launching the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smashes “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
The movie, whose release date and shooting schedule have not yet been released, will follow on the heels of last year’s biopic of Jon Bon Jovi’s musical idol, fellow Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Bon Jovi released their sixteenth studio album, Forever, in 2024 and are gearing up to play their first shows in four years with a run that will kick off with the first of nine gigs at Madison Square Garden in New York on July 7.
