So much of our lives these days are spent looking for and latching onto One Good Thing. The latest blessing in this vein is Wordle, a word-a-day guessing game that captivated users around the world before being purchased by The New York Times on Monday.
It’s quite the moment for Wordle, with a million dollars and 10 million users under its belt. We won’t be surprised if Hollywood comes knocking next, adapting the game, the story, and truly anything else they can think of — remember how many Game Stop projects are in the works?
We here at Mashable Entertainment love a good entertainment pitch. So, we came up with a handful of Wordle TV and film adaptations that will be guaranteed hits. Thank us later, preferably at the Oscars.
1. The rom-com
Josh Wardle invented Wordle for his wife because she enjoys word games, which is frankly the cutest thing ever. This quirky film experiments with style, tracking their love story from the Words With Friends era through to the present via trendy mobile games (a FarmVille chapter doesn’t survive the cutting room floor). In the end, the couple gets a million dollars and lives happily ever after.
2. The Adam McKay treatment
In this version, the rom-com part is less than five-minutes long, a montage during the opening credits that quickly pivots to Josh Wardle cashing a million-dollar check and winking directly at the camera. Margot Robbie explains the game’s rules from an incongruous setting. And in between scenes, we cut to various celebrities, as themselves, trying to guess each day’s word and cursing when they fail.
3. The existential cartoon
Remember The Angry Birds Movie? The Emoji Movie? Why not give the Wordle squares their equivalent moment in the sun? Picture the letters battling to the death for inclusion in today’s word. The drama is set against a threatening hellscape of grey and yellow.
4. The horror movie
This one takes some liberties, but boy do they hit. A serial killer invents a Wordle-like game that captivates users around the world — until they realize that the game is spelling out clues about the latest victim. From the team that brought you The Snowman.
5. The intellectual thriller
World defense forces — and probably some schmo named Robert Langdon — must band together to solve a Wordle before time runs out and they face an international threat. Better yet, Nicholas Cage collects Wordle clues to steal an ancient document. The passcode is five letters long, but they only get six chances to get it right.
6. The Riverdale episode
Oh, do you think it sounds like Wordle is something Riverdale wouldn’t do? Really? Are you sure? Do you know anything that’s happening on that show anymore? Is Wordle not — at least theoretically — possible??? Maybe Jughead and Betty use the power of the student newspaper. Doesn’t matter if they graduate in Season 9 or whatever — they’re back, and solving Wordle.
7. The cautionary tale
Power corrupts and all that, and we are in an age of absolute wealth and power turning so-called visionaries into capitalist monsters who would rather take a joyride to space than help solve a global pandemic. So, which Oscar-winning cast and creative team will take on the melodramatic Josh Wardle biopic? The only condition is that they somehow recreate Justin Timberlake’s iconic “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars” from The Social Network. Honestly, you can just edit in the old clip and we’ll make it work.
8. The #DailyWordleClub
Wardle may have invented Wordle, but it took off thanks to word-of-mouth — particularly the word of New Zealanders in winter 2021. Obviously, Taika Waititi will write and direct. Usually he appears in his films in at least one minor role, but we’re open to him playing literally everyone this time around. Theater audiences will stand and applaud when a Twitter user first implements the colorful squares.
9. The limited series
Not every Cultural Moment needs its own eight-episode arc on cable or streaming, yet so many of them get one. HBO or Netflix stretch out Wardle’s story, intercutting his life during COVID quarantine with pivotal childhood flashbacks as five-letter words flash across the screen. Nicole Kidman plays his wife, and they are also plotting/hiding/solving a murder.
Check out today’s Wordle right here.
The entire Mashable Entertainment team contributed to this article.
