Weird: The Story of Al Yankovic, a biopic about the musician starring Daniel Radcliffe, will be released on The Roku Channel on Nov. 4, the streaming company has announced. The film will be available to stream anywhere Roku’s free service is available, and is the latest step in the company’s effort to produce original content that will reportedly span as many as 50 shows.
The biopic is about the life of musician Weird Al Yankovic, including his “rise to fame in the music industry to his love affairs with celebrities,” according to Roku. It will be directed by Eric Appel (who most recently directed all ten episodes of the Quibi show) that heart) and was written by Appel and Weird Al themselves. In addition to Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood and Rainn Wilson also star.
It’s an interesting move for Roku, a company better known for its streaming hardware than its streaming content. But after picking up Qubi’s library of original content when the short video service closed its doors, then taking its own content and licensing major movies from Lionsgate, Roku is steadily building The Roku Channel into one of the more interesting entrants in the world. the streaming wars.