John Cena to Star in ‘Matchbox,’ Based on Mattel Car Toyline

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John Cena has signed on to star in Matchbox, a live-action take on the classic Mattel car toyline.

Apple Original Films has snagged the mighty film package that hails from Skydance and Mattel Films. Sam Hargrave, the director behind the gritty Extraction movies, is on board to helm the feature.

The project is coming in full throttle with a screenplay by David Coggeshall, who wrote action comedy The Family Plan for the streaming and tech giant, and Jonathan Tropper, the author and scribe who wrote the Ryan Reynolds action-adventure feature The Adam Project.

Matchbox is the toy brand first created in 1953 and acquired by Mattel in 1997. Mattel competed with Matchbox in the die-cast car space with its own line, Hot Wheels. According to lore, automotive enthusiast Jack Odell designed the first car for his daughter, who was allowed to take a toy to school only if it was small enough to fit in a matchbox. When his daughter’s school friends too began clamoring for a “matchbox car,” an iconic brand was born.

Plot details are being kept under the hood. While Hollywood has tried for years to bring Hot Wheels to the big-screen, this appears to be the first time Matchbox has been developed as a movie.

Producing are Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, as well as Robbie Brenner for Mattel Films.

The project marks the latest collaboration between Skydance and Apple. There a more than a handful of Skydance-Apple productions on deck, among them adventure movie The Gorge, starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, and Fountain of Youth, an upcoming star-studded feature from Guy Ritchie that stars Natalie Portman and John Krasinksi.

Cena recently starred opposite Akwafina in Amazon’s action-comedy Jackpot, and is currently shooting season two of the Max original series Peacemaker, based on the DC heroes. He is also prepping to embark on his farewell WWE tour in 2025.

Cena is repped by WME, Intenta Media, and Johnson, Shapiro.

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