Per Deadline, New Line Cinema has picked up the original pitch The Naughty One from writer Zach Helm for HBO Max in a competitive situation.
Helm will write the film, which is an action comedy set around Christmas. Further details are currently under wraps. Berlanti/Schechter Films’ Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter will produce, with Michael McGrath serving as executive producer.
Helm has previously written such fantastical films as Stranger Than Fiction (where a man begins hearing a disembodied voice narrating his life as it happens) and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, a children’s fantasy comedy that he also directed but has since disowned.
He has also penned Adrian Lyne‘s upcoming erotic thriller Deep Water, which stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas.
HBO Max recently released 8-BIT Christmas, a festive comedy starring Neil Patrick Harris about a boy in the 1980s planning to get a Nintendo Entertainment system before everyone else. That film garnered positive reviews and perhaps convinced HBO to develop another holiday comedy, although this once sounds a little more adult-oriented.
Other original films in the works at the streamer include the fifth installment of the Evil Dead franchise Evil Dead Rise, school shooting drama The Fallout, and superhero movie Batgirl.
All those films are expected to arrive in 2022, with other movies such as Steven Soderbergh‘s KIMI, Calmatic‘s House Party remake, and sci-fi romantic comedy Moonshot also currently in production.
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