There's rich, and then there's Jerry Seinfeld rich. The former star of Seinfeld has parlayed his nine-year sitcom success into a lifetime's worth of wealth. According to Forbes magazine's ranking of the top 100 celebrities of 2005, Seinfeld ranked 28th, thanks to the $100 million he made that year, mostly in residuals from his eponymous program. That's on top of the $267 million he received in 2004 following the record-breaking sale of syndication rights for Seinfeld.
"What's the deal with Frogger? How many times are they gonna make this one poor amphibian play in traffic?"
However, being a businessman as well as a comedian, Seinfeld is always looking to make more money. His latest venture will be his first game-related effort since the infamous "Frogger" episode of Seinfeld. During today's postearnings-report conference call, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick announced that his company was working with the famed comedian for a title to be released during its next fiscal year. "We'll have a new intellectual property based on [a] DreamWorks [project] starring Jerry Seinfeld," said the executive.
Unfortunately for those dreaming of guiding an agitated George Costanza through oncoming traffic, the game will not be based on the show Seinfeld. Activision reps confirmed to GameSpot that the project in question will be a game adaptation of Bee Movie, the forthcoming computer-animated comedy from DreamWorks Animation. Written by Seinfeld, the film will hit theaters next year and will profile a worker bee who sues humans for exploiting his race's ability to produce honey.
Activision didn't reveal which platforms the Bee Movie game would be released on. However, the project is just the latest collaboration between the publisher and DreamWorks Animation. One of the company's tent-pole releases during its last fiscal quarter was a multiplatform adaptation of Over the Hedge, and it also enjoyed success last year with its game tie-ins to Madagascar. Activision has also released games based on Shrek and Shrek 2 and is developing games based on Shrek the Third, also due in 2007.