‘Hot Wheels’ Movie Finds Its Writers (Exclusive)

Warner Bros. is revving Hot Wheels once again.

The studio has hired rising screenwriting duo Neil Widener and Gavin James to pen the script for the live-action feature take on the iconic Mattel toy cars.

Mattel’s Robbie Brenner is producing.

Widener and James got the gig by winning a bake-off where the studio asked several scribes to come up with a treatment. Widener and James beat out several more established players, sources say.

Details of the take are being kept in the glove box.

The hiring of the writers is the first major development for the title since Warner teamed with Mattel in January 2019 to develop and produce a big-screen project. It’s been close to two decades that a Hot Wheels movie project has been in the development garage. Columbia had McG working on the engine for several years before Warners and producer Joel Silver got their hands it. Legendary got the rights in the early 2010s and had both Simon Crane and Justin Lin in the driver’s seat, although neither ever got on the road.

Widener and James don’t have any produced credits, but the scribes have generated heat working on a sequel to San Andreas and Now You See Me 3. They also have a retelling of Romeo and Juliet titled Verona set up at Columbia.

The pair are repped by Grandview.