John Cena revs up lead in Mattel’s ‘Matchbox’ movie
A very large dude will star in a movie about very small cars.
Deadline says John Cena has been cast in Matchbox, an action film based on the popular miniature toy brand.
Back in May 2024, ABC Audio confirmed that the toy company and Barbie producer was revving up the project, with Extraction franchise director Sam Hargrave behind the camera.
Bestselling author and The Adam Project screenwriter Jonathan Tropper and co-writer David Coggeshall were tasked with turning in a script that turned the beloved toy line created in 1953 into a movie for Skydance, which backs the Mission: Impossible films.
Cena can currently be seen in Jackpot!, a Prime Video action comedy alongside his fellow Ken Simu Liu and Awkwafina.
While Marvel Studios stormed San Diego Comic Con late last month, the Disney-owned property came loaded to the company’s D23 expo this weekend.
Ryan Reynolds opened the presentation with a video message thanking fans for making Deadpool & Wolverine such a huge hit, commenting “overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to describe” how he feels.
With that, he introduced “the original Marvel Jesus,” studio head Kevin Feige.
Feige teased a series of new big-and-small-screen projects. On the small screen, there’s the Disney+-bound WandaVision spin-off Agatha All Along,Ironheart, spawned from the blockbuster film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the anticipated Daredevil: Born Again, which reunites Charlie Cox as the blind vigilante and the cast of the acclaimed Netflix series Daredevil.
The Agatha All Along cast, including Kathryn Hahn, Patti LuPone and Aubrey Plaza talked up the series debuting September 18 and performed the dark magic-inspiring song “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road.”
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler teased footage and introduced the cast of 2025’s Ironheart, which centers on Dominique Thorne‘s Wakanda Forever supergenius Riri Williams.
Cox, and co-star Vincent D’Onofrio — reprising as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin — joined their other co-stars including Jon Bernthal reprising as Frank Castle/The Punisher, for a peek at Daredevil: Born Again. The series had been reworked from a more PG-13 vibe to hew closer to the R-rated Netflix Daredevil and Punisher shows — and although it debuts in March of 2025, production has begun on season 2.
As for movies, there were new peeks at the forthcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Captain America: Brave New World, both debuting in theaters in 2025.
Fantastic Four didn’t have any new footage that wasn’t already teased at Comic-Con, but there was a video of cast members Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Pedro Pascal, and Joseph Quinn palling around on set.
Anthony Mackiestopped by to talk about Brave New World and show off a sneak peek that gave fans a better look at Harrison Ford raging out as Red Hulk.
Netflix has picked up Guy Ritchie‘s The Gentlemen for a second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series, a spin-off of the Matthew McConaughey-starring movie from 2019, centers on Eddie Horniman, played by Theo James, who has inherited his father’s sizable estate only to discover that it’s sitting on top of a weed empire, which Britain’s criminal underworld wants to get in on. While trying to free his family from their clutches, Eddie gets sucked into the world of criminality and begins to find a taste for it. In addition to James, Kaya Scodelario and Daniel Ings return for season 2 …
Peacock, which previously picked up The Traitors for a third season, has just renewed it for a fourth season, according to Deadline. The second season of the reality competition series, hosted by Alan Cumming, is up for several Emmys, including Outstanding Reality Competition Program, Directing for a Reality Series and Cinematography for a Reality Series, along with an Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program nod for Cumming. Filming for season 3 recently wrapped up in the Scottish Highlands …
Variety reports Hulu has given a series order to the comedy Mid-Century Modern. Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer and Nathan Lee Graham star as “three best friends — gay gentlemen of a certain age — who, after an unexpected death, decide to spend their golden years living together in Palm Springs where the wealthiest one lives with his mother — played by Linda Lavin,” per the streaming service. “As a chosen family, they prove that no matter how hard things get, there’s always someone around to remind you it would be better if you got your neck done” …
Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine had another big week at the domestic box office, earning an estimated $97 million — the eighth-biggest second weekend in box office history, according to Variety.
The film, starring Ryan Reynolds and High Jackman, earned an estimated $110.5 million internationally, bringing its worldwide gross to $824.1 million. It’s now the second-highest-grossing film of the year, behind Inside Out 2.
Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Twisters took second place, grabbing an estimated $22.7 million at the North American box office in its third week of release. It’s three-week global tally now stands at $195.6 million and $274.4 million worldwide.
M. Night Shyamalan‘s thriller Trap, starring Josh Hartnett, collected an estimated $15.6 million in its opening weekend for third place. The film grabbed an estimated $4.4 million overseas, for a global total of $20 million overseas
Fourth place went to Despicable Me 4, which earned an estimated $11.2 million, for a fifth week domestic box office total of $314 million and $752.2 million globally.
Rounding out the top five was Inside Out 2, earning an estimated $6.7 million at the North American box office, bringing its total to $626.9 million domestically and $1.6 billion worldwide after eight weeks.
The weekend’s other major release, the live-action CGI adventure Harold and the Purple Crayon, starring Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery and Zooey Deschanel, finished in sixth place with an estimated $6 million at the domestic box office.