Over the course of the past couple of years, a different kind of competitive sport has become one of the most popular modern sports in general. Known popularly as eSports, teams of players as young as 15 years of age have begun to take part in internationally televised events - with the biggest fan bases located in the U.S., Europe, and Asia - wherein their skills at playing various online video games have been put to the test. Popular titles like DOTA and League of Legends have hosted championship matches that have awarded the winners upwards of $20 million; at the same time, drawing crowds of viewers at home that have surpassed the respective audience engagement with the World Series and the NBA Finals.

Given the impressive amount of viewer interest in eSports, it should perhaps come as no surprise that film studios might begin hatching plans to capitalize on the rising trend by producing an original feature-length movie about the competitive sports phenomenon. What's more, the latest word has one notorious comic actor interested in developing his very own untitled eSports comedy.

Legendary, Mosaic, and Gary Sanchez Productions have announced that none other than Will Ferrell has signed on to star in an untitled eSports comedy co-written by Michael Kvamme and Jordan Dunn - whose most recent screen credits include the script for the upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants 3 for Paramount Pictures. The new movie is being hyped to do the same thing for eSports that Talladega Nights did for the world of Nascar, with Ferrell taking part as an atypical eSports competitor.

Ferrell is currently hard at work on the comedy Holmes and Watson for Sony with his frequent collaborator (and Talladega Nights costar) John C. Reilly - wherein the duo play the intrepid pair that is Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, respectively. After production wraps on that film, Ferrell is expected to being work on the eSports comedy - presumably following the attachment of a director to the project.

Ferrell has a well-established knack for lampooning some of the more popular sub-cultures of American life, and as such the world of eSports - an industry primarily suited to 20-somethings possessed of superior hand-eye coordination - should prove to be another playground rife with opportunities to sink his teeth into. Here's to hoping Ferrell's take on eSports is more Talladega Nights and less Semi-Pro.

We will bring you more information on Will Ferrell's eSports comedy as it becomes available.

Source: Legendary, Mosaic and Gary Sanchez Productions