Bon Jovi biopic in the works from Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures is developing a Bon Jovi biopic that will focus on the band's early years, tracing their rise from modest beginnings in New Jersey to selling out stadiums as one of the defining rock acts of the 1980s. The film will be produced by Kevin J Walsh and Gotham Chopra, and Los Angeles writer Cody Brotter is set to pen the script.

Bon Jovi have sold over 130m albums, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Born Jon Bongiovi in the small city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, he was raised in a blue-collar household and started playing music after receiving an electric guitar as a Christmas present when he was 13.

'When you’re that age everybody thinks you’re gonna be a rock’n’roll star and that you’re gonna really make it,' he said. 'I was just dumb enough to believe it.' As a teenager, Bon Jovi worked as an assistant at the Power Station recording studio in New York and was transfixed by musicians who came through, such as Mick Jagger and Diana Ross.

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