Following a highly competitive bidding war, New Line has won the rights to an untitled action-comedy with Dwayne Johnson attached to star and Will Gluck on board to direct.
Sources tell Variety that the package also re-teams Johnson with his “San Andreas” producer Beau Flynn. Flynn and Johnson are producing through their Flynn Picture Company shingle and Seven Bucks Productions banner, respectively. Gluck will join them through his Olive Bridge Entertainment.
Dave Callaham will write the script. The storyline is being kept under wraps, but the comedy is a throwback to classic 1980s movies like “48 Hours” and “Lethal Weapon.”
Scott Sheldon will oversee for Flynn Picture Company and Hiram Garcia for Seven Bucks. Richard Brener, Walter Hamada and David Neustadter are shepherding for New Line.
Following the worldwide success of “San Andreas,” which earned more than $473.7 million at the global box office, Johnson and Flynn are continuing their partnership with a handful of films in the pipeline. The projects include a “Baywatch” reboot at Paramount that shoots next year, as well as an adaptation of the popular arcade game “Rampage,” which is also set up at New Line.
Johnson is currently shooting the second season of “Ballers” for HBO and can be seen next in “Central Intelligence,” which bows next summer and also stars Kevin Hart.
Johnson is repped by WME, The Garcia Companies, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, while Callaham is repped by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren & Richman. Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.
Source: Variety
