LOS ANGELES — Prime Video unveiled the first Madden trailer for David O. Russell’s biopic “Madden,” featuring Nicolas Cage as late Hall of Fame coach and broadcaster John Madden and Christian Bale as Raiders owner Al Davis during the streamer’s Christmas night NFL broadcast of the Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs game. The teaser casts the movie as an origin story that links sideline success and a friendship in the Raiders’ front office to the birth of the Madden NFL video game franchise, Dec. 25, 2025.
What the Madden trailer reveals about “Madden”
The official teaser doesn’t give away much plot, but it makes its first promise quickly: performance and transformation. Cage is bulked up and styled to evoke Madden’s 1970s coaching years, while Bale appears behind Davis’ familiar glasses and sharp, controlled posture. In one clip from the Madden trailer, Cage delivers a quick burst of coach-speak: “They have no idea where we are, who we are, where we’re coming from, or who we’re throwing to,” before the teaser cuts away.
In its coverage, Entertainment Weekly reported Amazon MGM Studios debuted the teaser during the Prime Video game and described the film as tracking Madden from coaching into broadcasting and then into the pop culture that followed. The outlet also listed supporting roles that point to a story reaching beyond the locker room: John Mulaney as Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, Kathryn Hahn as Madden’s wife, Virginia, and Sienna Miller as Carol Davis.
People reported the movie is scheduled to arrive on Prime Video for Thanksgiving 2026 and said the ensemble includes comedian Shane Gillis in an unnamed role. Another take from Consequence similarly framed the teaser as a two-hander, positioning Davis’ risk-taking and Madden’s larger-than-life persona as the engine of the story.
Prime Video has not detailed theatrical plans for “Madden,” and the teaser itself doesn’t clarify whether the film will play theaters before streaming. Still, Awful Announcing noted the streamer’s recent efforts to tie Thanksgiving coverage to Madden’s legacy, making the timing feel deliberate — and making the Madden trailer’s first job less about spoilers than about reintroducing a familiar name as a person, not a logo.
How the project got here
The movie’s long runway is part of the story. In May 2023, early reporting connected the project to Will Ferrell as a possible Madden before later casting changes reshaped the film’s direction. Fox 11 Los Angeles was among outlets tracking that first version of the package.
By August 2024, the plan had shifted to Cage. Yahoo Sports reported the casting change, a move that signaled a more overtly transformative approach for a figure whose voice and mannerisms remain instantly recognizable.
Set photos in 2025 then previewed what the Madden trailer now confirms about Davis. People’s June 2025 set report detailed Bale’s on-set look, including the receding hairline and championship-era styling that signaled the Raiders’ peak years.
Madden, who died in 2021, coached the Raiders to a Super Bowl title and later became one of the defining voices of NFL television. Davis, who died in 2011, helped build the franchise into a national brand. For viewers, the Madden trailer is the first real test of tone: whether Russell’s film can balance a familiar sports rise with the corporate backstory of a video game empire that helped reshape how football is watched, discussed and sold.
