Development: Jason Bateman directing John Cena in Netflix movie; R.L. Stine's Fear Street 2 driving forward; more

Wrestler-turned-actor John Cena will star in a new Netflix action-comedy/possibly fantasy film from director Jason Bateman, author Gregg Hurwitz inks a deal for three more installments of Orphan X, and Alex Ross Perry will helm Fear Street 2 in our latest development roundup.

First, Bumblebee's John Cena will star in Jason Bateman's untitled Netflix film, per The Hollywood Reporter. The movie, which was written by Game Night writer Mark Perez, will follow a family that gets trapped in an abandoned movie studio, but when the sets come to life, they find themselves trapped in scenes from old movies.

It sounds a lot like A Night at the Museum mixed with that recurring sketch from Amazon Women on the Moon where the guy got sucked into old TV shows, with maybe a little dash of Pleasantville and Click.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

Next up, Gregg Hurwitz has just inked a seven-figure deal for the next three books in his Orphan X series, according to Deadline. 

The series is centered on Evan Smoak, a kid who was removed from his home at age 12 and trained in the Orphan Program as a secret government assassin. The first book, Orphan X, came out in 2016. The upcoming fourth installment, Out of the Dark: The Return of Orphan X, will be available for purchase starting Jan. 29. It will involve Smoak's most difficult task to date: taking down the United States president.

Hurwitz is also set to co-adapt his books for a TV series after the rights were acquired by Brad Weston’s Makeready last year.

(via Deadline)

Finally, The Wrap reports that Alex Ross Perry will be directing the adaptation of horror writer R.L. Stine's Fear Street 2.

The film is the middle installment of a planned trilogy based on Stine's Fear Street series. Leigh Janiak, who penned the screenplays, was going to direct all three films at one point, but will only be directing the first and third. The plan is to release all three films a few months apart in 2020, with production starting this summer.

Perry's installment is set at a summer camp in 1978. The campers are divided by rich kids from Sunnyvale and maintenance staffers from the downtrodden town of Shadyside. Before long, horrors from their towns’ shared history come alive, and they must overcome their economic divide to solve a terrifying mystery before it’s too late.

(via The Wrap)