The Andre “the Giant” documentary released earlier this year by HBO is the most-watched sports documentary in the history of the channel. Over 7 million viewers have tuned in to see the film.
Many are speculating the news could lead to more wrestling-related documentaries in the future.
The Hollywood Reporter was the first to break the news. The outlet spoke with the film’s producer, Bill Simmons after he’d signed a new deal with HBO earlier this week.
“I’m thrilled to keep going with the HBO family and can’t wait to get started on a couple of the more ambitious projects we’ve hatched,” said Simmons. “I witnessed it firsthand with our Andre doc — when you create something unique for HBO, they’ve built so much trust and equity in their audience over the years that it’s always going to be seen. Every single time. If it’s good and it’s on HBO, it will stand out. Even though we have more entertainment choices than ever right now, HBO still cuts through in an incredibly precise, almost unassailable way — and they work better with creatives than anyone, period. I am lucky to work with them and I know it.”
Andre the Giant Documentary
Bill Simmons had originally wanted to do a documentary on Andre the Giant while he was still at ESPN. According to Simmons, Andre’s doc was on the list of original 30 for 30 series.
“I have this old computer that has a lot of the original 30 for 30 stuff from 2007 on it,” Simmons said. “Andre was on the initial list of 12 documentaries that I just thought could really resonate. Back then, HBO had a monopoly on the sports documentaries. They were doing a lot of older stuff like Joe Louis and Vince Lombardi and people like that, and it just seemed like there was an inefficiency with subjects and athletes and teams from the ’80s and ’90s, so he was always on that list but at the time the WWE kept everything for themselves and rightly so.”
transcriptions via WrestleZone
