Oregon Trail is taking the road to a movie adaptation

MECC's Oregon Trail game is becoming a movie over at Apple.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, the project is in early development, with Will Speck and Josh Gordon attached as directors and producers. HarperCollins, which owns the rights to the game, will produce through its titular production company.

While plot details were not provided, the film will reporterdly feature musical numbers similar to 2023's Barbie and a score by EGOT winners Justin Paul and Benj Pasek. It is also unclear if the movie will head to theaters or be relegated to AppleTV+.

Apple has had a video game presence for some time now, but the Oregon Trail film marks its second major video game movie following last year's Tetris biopic starring Taron Egerton.

The original Oregon Trail was released for computers in 1971 by designers Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger. Initially made to teach young students about the lifestyle of 19th century pioneers, players gather food supplies and make choices on their trek from Independence, MO to Oregon City, OR through the titular trail.

In the decades since, there have been multiple updates and sequels to the edutainment title, helped by Gameloft reviving it in 2008 for phones. Since then, Oregon Trail has released on a new system or format (including board and card games) every few years, with the most recent being PlayStation 4 and 5 earlier this year.

At the height of its popularity, it would be come pre-loaded onto computers and be very popular with kids from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. MECC also released titles inspired by it that centered on the Yukon and Amazon trails that released in the mid and late '90s.

More recent versions of Oregon Trail have included an updated portrayal of Native Americans. For the game's 2021 release, Gameloft sought out Indigenous historians to provide a more accurate representation, including more fitting names and wholly new roads beyond guides or trappers.

A similar approach has also been taken with 2025's Civilization VII. Firaxis sought out a partnership with the Shawnee Tribe to make sure its game's portrayal of Native Americans was sincere, particularly since it will feature the Indigenous 19th century military and political leader Tecumseh.