It has been confirmed that the frontman of Green Day, Billy Joe Armstrong, is set to star in the movie version of the hit musical American Idiot, which is based on Green Day’s 2004 album of the same name. The film is currently being developed by Tom Hanks’ production company Playtone Productions.
American Idiot will be Playtone Productions second big screen musical, after previously releasing the worldwide hit Mama Mia!. Gary Goetzman of Playtone Productions explained, “Mamma Mia! proved that if the musical is right, obviously it can go into the stratosphere, as far as box office gross. We’re always looking for musicals.”
He then added, “If we can do that, it’d be a genre that’s as respected as any produced by the studios. Maybe there will be three musicals a year, maybe five. I think that’s important otherwise we’d just have this tentpole mentality where if it’s not based on a comic book or cost $200 million, you're stacked in like pillars. We need all these genres to be respected and we need the studios not to be afraid of them.” American Idiot the movie, starring Billy Joe Armstrong is expected to be released in 2013.
