EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has set the theatrical release date for the live-action/CGI hybrid Lizard Music, starring Dwayne Johnson and directed by Benny Safdie, for December 25, 2027.
Lizard Music follows a boy (Theo Clark Leber) left to his own devices who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, and a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. His search for answers leads him to an eccentric and whimsical old man nicknamed The Chicken Man (Johnson) and his beloved companion, an 85-year-old chicken named Claudia – the boy and the old man become kindred spirits who find each other at just the right time.
United by a shared vision, they set off on an adventure that begins as a hunt for a hidden society but blossoms into something far greater: a voyage through invisible worlds, unexpected harmonies, and the unbreakable bond between lost souls who discover magic not only in what they find, but also in each other.
The project is billed as being another transformative role for Johnson, with extensive makeup and prosthetics used to turn him into the eccentric septuagenarian Chicken Man. Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Arya Parvathi, Regina Hall, Colman Domingo, Jeff Goldblum, Rachel McAdams, Andrew Dice Clay and David Krumholtz also star.
Safdie adapted the screenplay off Daniel Pinkwater’s novel of the same name. Producers include UA’s Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt, Out for the Count Productions’ Safdie, Seven Bucks Productions’ Johnson, and Magnetic Fields Entertainment’s David Koplan.
Given the fantasy and wonder nature of the project, a Christmas launchpad is ideal in reaching family audiences. Lizard Music will arrive in theaters next year following the December 17 release of Disney/Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Secret Wars, New Line’s Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and Lionsgate’s sequel The Housemaid’s Secret.
Also opening on Christmas Day 2027 so far are Amazon MGM Studios’ Ron Howard-directed actioner Alone at Dawn starring Adam Driver and Anne Hathaway, and a Warner Bros’ movie being directed by Nancy Meyers.