Overview
- News outlets reported in late July that Regina Hall has been cast to play the friend and co-worker of Johnson’s character, The Chicken Man.
- Benny Safdie wrote and will direct the live-action/CGI adaptation of Daniel Pinkwater’s 1976 novel, which follows a boy who discovers sentient, music-playing lizards.
- The ensemble now includes newcomer Theo Leber in the boy’s role plus Alicia Silverstone and Tim Heidecker alongside Johnson and Hall.
- Producers and companies attached include Scott Stuber, Nick Nesbitt, David Koplan, Seven Bucks and Out for the Count, and production is reported to be slated to begin in August 2026 with a target release in 2027.
- Johnson has publicly discussed slimming down to portray the eccentric, elderly Chicken Man, describing a lean, sinewy look he likened to an older Clint Eastwood.