Even during a global pandemic, movie deals are still being made. JoBlo Movie Productions, a tent-pole movie fansite, has partnered with production house Rock Steady Media to complete Arcade Dreams, an ambitious multi-part documentary series covering the 100-year history of arcade games.
Rock Steady Media is best known for their debut documentary Viva Amiga: The Story of a Beautiful Machine, which premiered on Hulu in 2017 and soared up the iTunes charts in multiple countries.
To bring Arcade Dreams to life, Rock Steady Media assembled a dream team of experts, including director Zach Weddington (Viva Amiga), and Emmy-winning cinematographer Bill Winters (Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee). Everyone on the team is a passionate fan of arcades, video games and pinball.
A chance encounter in a pinball forum (where else?) connected Rock Steady with Berge Garabedian, CEO and founder of JoBlo. He immediately gravitated toward the project, since he was a lifelong arcade game fan, pinball player, and collector.
What drew me in was the film’s teaser trailer, I was like ‘Oh…my…God! This is my life!’ and I immediately wanted to be a part of the production team. It also feels like now is the perfect time for this project, as retro gaming and nostalgia from the 80s are uber-hot.
Berge Garabedian, CEO and founder of JoBlo
A serial entrepreneur, Mr. Garabedian founded JoBlo.com in his parents’ garage in 1998, after graduating with an MBA in Montreal, Canada. JoBlo has since grown into a powerhouse in the movie community, offering movie news, reviews, trailers, release dates, as well as thousands of celebrity interviews and set visits from around the world. TIME magazine once called Berge “one of the most powerful taste-makers in Hollywood.” His JoBlo YouTube network has more than 5 million subscribers and nearly 4 billion views.
We’re thrilled about partnering with JoBlo! Berge has built such an awesome brand and he immediately clicked with our vision after our first phone call.
Director, Zach Weddington
Rock Steady Media has already filmed hours of interviews with industry greats along with stunning, high-resolution footage of classic pinball and arcade machines. The team has reached out to fans, collectors, restoration experts, and game developers. The reaction from arcade game fans around the world to the early footage has been ecstatic.
The success of the recent gaming documentary High Score on Netflix proves that audiences are hungry for these kinds of stories. There are so many more stories that haven’t been told,” Weddington explained. “And we know gaming fans have been waiting to hear them.” Rock Steady Media plans to launch a Kickstarter this month in order to bring community involvement in the project to a new level.
We’re hoping that this project will help a lot of people smile during these surreal times in the world. Nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety so when you mix that with a fun history lesson in arcade games, we believe our project is poised for success.
Berge Garabedian, CEO and founder of JoBlo
To find out more and to sign up for updates on the Kickstarter, visit: https://arcadedocumentary.com/.
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