A small-ish announcement, with more details to come: Neon has acquired the U.S. domestic rights to Matt Johnson’s next film, currently titled “Untitled Matt Johnson Film,” following the recent release of “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.”
Johnson will direct, with Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things”) set to star as a Canadian investigative journalist. The story is inspired by real events involving a Vice editor who allegedly recruited drug mules for an international cocaine trafficking operation, some of it tied to activity out of the media company’s offices.
Johnson has built a reputation for stylized, semi-fictionalized true-story films, including “BlackBerry,” “The Dirties,” and “Operation Avalanche.” “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” was released earlier this year to strong reviews. He also recently shot the A24-backed Anthony Bourdain biopic “Tony,” starring Dominic Sessa, and is developing a “Magic: The Gathering” film for Legendary.