The film of Paul the Octopus is cooming soon

Paul the Octopus will have his own movie, The Murder of Paul the Octopus, has already finished in South Africa and post-production work is well under way.

Paul the Octopus, of course, recently retired in Germany after achieving global fame for his perfect record predicting match results in this year’s World Cup in South Africa, including Germany’s semifinal loss and Spain’s ultimate victory. As one of my colleagues noted, Paul beat the not-so-mighty quants of Wall Street. Director Xiao Jiang was shooting a “comic suspense” film in South Africa at the time under a completely different title (“The Legend of World Cup”).

The China Film Group Corporation and Beijing Filmblog Media Company cast a Chinese octopus to play the mighty mollusc. The film will focus on Paul’s incredible winning streak. Chinese media reports said it would explore “how the octopus acquires the ability, and discuss his possible fates”.

The film will also feature popular mainland soccer commentators Huang Jianxiang and Li Chengpeng. Filmmakers gave no hint as to the denouement of the thriller, whose title hints at a tragic fate for the seaborne soothsayer.