Teyonah Parris, who plays heroine Monica Rambeau in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has joined John Cena in Matchbox, Apple Original Films’ live-action take on the classic Mattel car toy line.
The movie is casting up ahead of a January start of production already has Jessica Biel and Sam Richardson on the call sheet. Sam Hargrave, the helmer behind the Extraction action movies, is directing.
Matchbox is the toy brand first created in 1953 and acquired by Mattel in 1997. The company originally competed with Matchbox in the die-cast car space with its own line, Hot Wheels.
Plot details have until now been kept under the hood but The Hollywood Reporter can reveal that the project is described as an action-packed, globetrotting adventure and centers on a group of childhood friends who must work together to stop an impending worldwide disaster and rediscover their friendship along the way.
The screenplay is by David Coggeshall, who wrote action comedy The Family Plan for Apple, and Jonathan Tropper, the author and scribe who wrote the Ryan Reynolds action-adventure feature The Adam Project.
Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger will produce alongside Robbie Brenner for Mattel Films and Jules Daly.
Parris is widely known for playing heroine Rambeau in Marvel Studios’ The Marvels and WandaVision. She gained notices for her work in Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq and Sundance fave Dear White People, and also starred in Candyman, directed by her Marvels helmer Nia DaCosta.
Parris, who most recently starred in Netflix’s They Cloned Tyrone opposite John Boyega and Jamie Foxx, is repped by CAA, Color Creative and Fox Rothschild.
