Movie musicals have been around since the 20th century. Some movie musicals have been very successful and are considered cultural touch stones like Singin’ in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, and Disney’s animated movies. Other musicals like the original the recent film version of Cats have been financial and critical failures. Fortunately Hollywood is not going to give up on the genre just because one musical movie failed so hard.

Both Screen Rant and Movie Web reported that Oscar winning director Spike Lee is planning on directing a movie musical. Spike Lee is of course known for directing cinematic classics like Do the Right Thing, Malcom X, and BlacKkKlansman. Lee’s upcoming movie will be about the invention of the drug Sildenafil. Most people know Sildenafil by the brand name Viagra, which is the medication used to treat erectile dysfunction.

The movie’s script will be written by both Lee and Kwame Kwei-Armah, and the script will be based on the Esquire article All Rise: The Untold Story of The Guys Who Launched Viagra. Songs for the movie will be written by  Heidi Rodewald and Stew Stewart.

It was reported that Lee had been planning on making a hip-hop musical called The Prince of Cats, so there is some speculation that this musical could utilize hip-hop songs.