Teddy is based on a popular illustration from Greek fantasy artist Alex Panagopoulos depicting a stuffed teddy bear protecting a child sleeping soundly from a monstrous threat in her bedroom.
Seven Bucks president of production Hiram Garcia initially discovered the illustration in 2013, sensed a movie idea, and optioned it to provide a foundation on which to build a feature.
“At Seven Bucks, we’re always on the hunt for content that can help inspire our next big story,” Garcia said in a statement. “From the moment I saw Alex’s incredible drawing, I knew there was something special there that our global audiences could respond to. We’re excited to add to our growing slate with Netflix and share this story with the world.”
Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia are attached to produce for Seven Bucks along with Flynn.
FlynnPictureCo.’s Scott Sheldon will executive produce and Chanel Bowling will oversee. Ori Marmur will oversee the project, which was once set up at New Line, for Netflix.
Seven Bucks and FlynnPictureCo. have an enviable and prolific track record that currently sees several high-profile projects in various stages of liftoff. The companies recently wrapped production on Netflix action heist film Red Notice starring Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot that will debut later this year. Shooting this spring is Black Adam, New Line’s adventure feature centered on the DC character, while their next release is Disney’s Jungle Cruise, starring Johnson and Emily Blunt and inspired by the ride, currently set for a July 30, 2021 release.
Stolberg and Florsheim, a writing team for over two decades, came onto the scene with the multi-million dollar spec sale of Passion of the Ark, which was eventually developed into Evan Almighty. The two also work separately, with Florsheim writing projects for Michael Keaton, Mike Meyers and John Davis, and Stolberg making a name for himself in horror. The latter co-wrote the upcoming Saw film, Spiral, that stars Chris Rock and Sam Jackson and is due out later this year.
Stolberg and Florsheim are repped by UTA, Circle of Confusion and Jackoway Austen.
