Amazon MGM Studios has set Christmas Day 2027 as the release date for “Lizard Music,” the live-action and CGI hybrid starring Dwayne Johnson and directed by Benny Safdie.
Safdie adapted the screenplay from Daniel Pinkwater’s novel of the same name. The story follows a boy who discovers a secret late-night broadcast of music-playing lizards. His search for the truth leads him to Chicken Man, a quirky septuagenarian played by Johnson, and Chicken Man’s 111-year-old chicken friend Claudia. Together they set out to explore a hidden society.
The release plan places a family-oriented fantasy in one of the year’s busiest windows. One industry columnist had expected a summer 2027 slot and called the holiday date a fit for a family-friendly fantasy. The film opens a week after Disney and Marvel’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” New Line’s “Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum” and Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid’s Secret” arrive Dec. 17.
The ensemble is crowded. Theo Clark Leber, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Arya Parvathi, Regina Hall, Colman Domingo, Jeff Goldblum, Rachel McAdams, Andrew Dice Clay and David Krumholtz round out the cast. Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt produce for United Artists, alongside Safdie, Johnson and David Koplan.
Johnson’s role demands heavy transformation. He confirmed in August that cameras were rolling, and described a prosthetic process that takes five hours of makeup each day. The casting continues a shift in his career toward riskier material.
The project also reunites him with his director after a difficult run. “The Smashing Machine,” their previous collaboration, disappointed at the box office and did not draw the awards attention many expected. Johnson earned acclaim for playing UFC Hall of Famer Mark Kerr in that film, Safdie’s first solo directing effort after work with his brother Josh on “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems.”
For Amazon MGM, the Christmas booking gives a strange, effects-heavy fantasy more than a year to build an audience. Whether the studio can sell a story about singing lizards to families remains the open question.
