Apple TV pulled back the curtain on its Mattel toy-car adaptation Saturday, debuting the first trailer for “Matchbox: The Movie” during a Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con. The film, starring John Cena and Jessica Biel, will stream exclusively on Apple TV starting Oct. 9, arriving at no extra cost to subscribers.
Cena plays Sean Walker, an undercover CIA operative who vanishes from his hometown for years before returning and pulling his childhood friends into a globe-spanning mission with life-or-death stakes. The footage shown at Comic-Con opens with Sean reconnecting with old friends at a bar, only for the group to grow woozy and wake up captive aboard a cargo plane, launching a chase that spans multiple countries. Director Sam Hargrave, known for the “Extraction” films, built the trailer around the kinetic set pieces that defined his earlier work, and early reactions from critics who saw the footage compared its tone to a blend of ensemble comedy and globetrotting espionage thriller.
The film rounds out an ensemble that includes Sam Richardson, Danai Gurira, Teyonah Parris, Arturo Castro, Randeep Hooda, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp and Golshifteh Farahani. David Coggeshall wrote the screenplay, and Skydance’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg produce alongside Don Granger and Robbie Brenner for Mattel Films, with Ynon Kreiz and Jules Daly also credited as producers.
“Matchbox” marks Mattel’s latest attempt to replicate the box-office success it found with “Barbie,” a push that has produced mixed results. The company’s “Masters of the Universe” adaptation struggled theatrically before finding a second life on streaming, and Mattel has several more toy-based films in various stages of development. Cena has said he initially doubted the project’s commercial prospects until he read the script, a reversal that mirrors his recent run of genre-bending choices, including the upcoming “Coyote vs. Acme,” which also got a fresh trailer this week.
Apple’s Comic-Con presence extended beyond “Matchbox,” with the Hall H panel also previewing the streamer’s “Neuromancer” adaptation and giving fans looks at “Dark Matter,” “Mayday,” “Widow’s Bay” and “Silo” as part of a broader push to expand its slate of genre programming heading into the fall season.
