There are so many great surfing movies that it’s difficult to name the all. There’s Big Wednesday and, uh, Endless Summer. And then there’s…..well, I guess Point Break qualifies. So I guess there aren’t tons of great surfing movies but thanks to Walden Media, there is going to be more of them, at least one more anyway.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Walden just bought a treatment of the story of Jay Moriarity, a teenager who looked at the killer waves at Maverick’s in Northern California and said, “hey bud, let’s party.” He was prepared for the challenge by local surfing legend Rick Hesson and their relationship will form the basis of the story. Moriarity died in a diving accident at 23 but had already made his name surfing five story monsters in one of the most dangerous locations on the big wave circuit.
Based on Walden Media’s history of adapting family friendly books like Chronicles of Narnia, Holes, and Bridge to Terabithia into quality movies, the plot will probably steer away from Spicolli-ish aspects of the surf community. It’s likely to focus more on the “kid does the amazing through hard work, determination and believing in his dreams” characteristics. While Walden doesn’t have an unblemished record, they do good work and maybe they can put a surfing movie together that appeals to a wider audience than the flip-flop and board wax set.
