Netflix Ramps Up Film Slate with Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Eric Andre

Tyler Hersko
·3 min read

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It’s been a busy 48 hours for Netflix: The streaming service has acquired the rights to Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s “Ball and Chain” superhero film, Eric Andre’s “Bad Trip” movie and “Legalize Everything” stand-up special, and reportedly acquired the Mark Wahlberg-produced “Our Man From Jersey” in a seven-figure deal.

Deadline reports that the lattermost project, a “blue-collar 007” that will be scripted by David Guggenheim, will be produced by Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, the duo whose recently-released “Spenser Confidential” was viewed by 85 million Netflix subscribers. The duo has been virtually meeting with writers but other details about the project, including a prospective release date, are under wraps.

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A Netflix representative declined to comment on Deadline’s Wahlberg/”Our Man From Jersey” report.

As for official Netflix news, the streaming service announced on Thursday that it acquired “Ball and Chain,” which will star Johnson and Blunt and will be adapted from the 1990 comic of the same name. The film follows a troubled married couple who receive superpowers that only work when they are together. “Ball and Chain” is written by Emily V. Gordon (“Little America”) and produced by Johnson, Blunt, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Kevin Misher, and executive produced by Andy Berman and Scott Lobdell.

Netflix also announced on Wednesday it will release comedian Eric Andre’s first special for the streaming service, titled “Eric Andre: Legalize Everything,” on June 23. The special is directed by Eric Notarnicola and executive produced by Mike Rosenstein. The upcoming special will further flesh out Netflix’s stand-up slate; the streaming service is among the industry’s most prolific stand-up distributors and is also gearing up to release specials from Patton Oswalt and “Nanette” creator Hannah Gadsby later this month.

Andre, who made a name for himself with his eclectic “The Eric Andre Show” comedy series that is set to return for a fifth season on Adult Swim in the future, will also release his “Bad Trip” hidden-camera comedy film on Netflix, though a release date is under wraps. “Bad Trip” was originally set to premiere at SXSW 2020 before the festival was cancelled and was slated to release on Amazon Prime on April 17, but was pulled from the platform’s schedule due to the ongoing pandemic. The film was accidentally released on Amazon Prime for a brief period on April 17 and was subsequently uploaded to piracy websites.

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