Hollywood loves few things more than belated sequels and reboots, but they haven’t gotten around to making another Groundhog Day. Yet. The beloved Bill Murray comedy is about a cantankerous weather man who finds himself trapped in an infinite loop, repeating the same day for months, possibly years, possibly centuries.
That is, it hasn’t gotten a sequel until now. But it won’t be a movie; it’s a virtual reality video game. As per EW, it’s called Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son, and it will arrive at as-yet-unspecified date. The game will find Murray’s son (presumably sired with Andie MacDowell’s producer Rita Hanson) being trapped in his own infinite loop, also on Groundhog Day. Yes, that means Bill Murray will be your dad, just like you always wanted.
The news arrived on, of course, Groundhog Day. The game will include about eight hours of “hilarious puzzles and branching narrative gameplay,” in which the player will try to break the loop and find their way to a better tomorrow. The game will arrive in the wake of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the show’s popular Choose Your Own Adventure-style movie/game (that got Netflix sued by the owners of Choose Your Own Adventure books). And who knows? Maybe if Groundhog Day 2 is popular, it will finally turn VR into a major thing, just like people hoped circa 1992’s The Lawnmower Man.
Now’s a good time to revisit the original film, if you have a few hours. Keep an eye out for a young and very green Michael Shannon, who plays the super excited newlywed when Murray’s Phil Connors buys him wrestling tickets. The perfect Honeymoon gift for everyone.
(Via EW)