EXCLUSIVE: After successfully launching the Extraction at Netflix, director Hargrave has his eyes set on another potential franchise with a piece of IP that is revving its engines to get out the gate. Sources tell Deadline, Skydance and Mattel Films have closed a deal with Hargrave to direct a live-action film based on Matchbox, Mattel’s iconic real-world die-cast toy vehicle line with David Coggeshall and Jonathan Tropper penning the script.
Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger will produce alongside Robbie Brenner for Mattel Films. The project will be shepherded by Aimee Rivera for Skydance and Elizabeth Bassin and Andrew Scannell for Mattel Films.
The legendary Matchbox brand was invented in 1953 by automotive enthusiast Jack Odell to solve a challenge 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 clamouring for a “matchbox car,” an iconic brand was born. The high standards of authenticity for Matchbox die-cast cars have driven the brand for over 70 years and generations of fans. Today, two Matchbox cars are sold every second somewhere around the world.
Plot details are being kept under wraps but given Hargrave’s style that has put him on the map as one of the top action directors in town, the film is sure to feature some high-octave sequences that could rival any car chase in town.
Hargrave has established himself as a filmmaker of note, known for deftly incorporating a blend of unique, intuitive, and character driven action into both his work in film and television. Following the success of Extraction 1 and 2, Hargrave has started to build out a robust development slate that includes the Warner Bros. high-octane action film, Stay Frosty, that he will also produce with Dark Horse Entertainment, about a man who miraculously survives an assassin’s bullet to the head and has to figure out who wants him dead, and why, as he makes his way back home in time to spend Christmas with his son.
Hargrave will also direct the pilot episode, and executive produce, the upcoming Apple TV+ original drama series, The Last Frontier, starring Jason Clarke. Created by Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio, The Last Frontier, follows Frank (Clarke), the lone Marshal in charge of the quiet, rugged barrens of Alaska, whose jurisdiction is turned upside-down when a prison transport plane crashes in the remote wilderness, setting free dozens of violent inmates. Tasked with protecting the town he’s vowed to keep safe, he begins to suspect the crash wasn’t an accident, but the first step of a well-crafted plan with international political implications.
Coggeshall is a 3-time Black Lister whose most recent had his spec The Family Plan debut on AppleTV+ starring Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan. It was the platform’s most-ever streamed movie after selling in a competitive situation to Apple and Skydance. Additionally, his script The Deliverance (fka Demon House) just wrapped for Netflix with Lee Daniels directing. In the last two years, he’s also written Thundercats for Warner Bros. and the Orphan prequel, Orphan: First Kill for Paramount.
Tropper is the internationally best-selling author of six novels that have been translated into over thirty languages. He adapted his New York Times bestseller This Is Where I Leave You as a Warner Bros. film, directed by Shawn Levy, starring Jason Bateman and Tina Fey.
He was the creator and Executive Producer of the Cinemax television series Banshee and the HBO Max drama Warrior, and served as Showrunner and Executive Producer of the Apple TV+ sci-fi series See, starring Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard.
On the feature side, he wrote Kodachrome, starring Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis, and Elizabeth Olsen, and The Adam Project, a sci-fi thriller starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Shawn Levy. Most recently, he wrote the Amazon/MGM original feature The Wrecking Crew, starring Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista, which starts production this August, and he created the television drama Your Friends & Neighbors for Apple TV+ starring Jon Hamm, which is currently in production in New York City and slated to air in early 2025.
Hargrave is repped by WME, Coggeshall is repped by WME, Writ Large, McKuin Frankel & Whitehead, LLP and Tropper is repped by CAA.
Coming off the hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Skydance’s slate of action and adventure films has not dissapointed as of late and includes Heart of Stone, Spy Kids: Armageddon and The Old Guard 2 for Netflix as well as The Family Plan and the upcoming The Gorge, Fountain of Youth and Mayday for Apple TV+ as well as Mission: Impossible 8.
Coming off the massive success of Barbie, Mattel Film’s vision is to collaborate with leading filmmakers to make standout quality movies based on our iconic brands that will resonate in culture and appeal to global audiences. In addition to Matchbox, Mattel Films has feature films in development for iconic IP including American Girl, Barney, Hot Wheels, Bob the Builder, Magic 8 Ball, Major Matt Mason, Masters of the Universe, Polly Pocket, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Thomas & Friends, UNO, View-Master, and Wishbone. Mattel Films is also developing Christmas Balloon, a holiday family drama based on all-new IP.
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