Amazon MGM dates Lizard Music for Christmas Day 2027
Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie's Lizard Music is set for a Christmas Day 2027 release from Amazon MGM Studios, with Johnson also producing through Seven Bucks Productions.
Amazon MGM Studios has set a Christmas Day 2027 release for Lizard Music, a live-action and CGI family film starring Dwayne Johnson and directed by Benny Safdie. World of Reel reported the date on 19 October 2026 and said that in July its writer had guessed the film was eyeing a summer 2027 slot.
The film adapts a children's novel by Daniel Pinkwater, which World of Reel says has been in Hollywood development on and off for almost two decades. The project is older than the new date: TheWrap reported on 16 October 2025 that Amazon MGM's United Artists had acquired it in a competitive situation.
How the Christmas Day date was reported
World of Reel published its report on 19 October 2026, listing Amazon MGM Studios as the studio and 25 December 2027 as the release date. In July, its writer had guessed the film was eyeing a summer 2027 slot.
The report dates the film to Christmas Day, eight days after several other December releases.
Sortiraparis, which also cites a Deadline report, says Amazon MGM Studios has set a U.S. release for 25 December 2027. World of Reel's writer says the date may still change.
Where the release sits in the December calendar
World of Reel lists three films opening on 17 December, eight days before the new date: Marvel's Avengers: Secret Wars, New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and Lionsgate's The Housemaid's Secret. The same report notes that Avengers: Secret Wars may move to 2028.
On 25 December, the film shares the date with Amazon MGM's Alone at Dawn and Warner Bros.' Paris Paramount. World of Reel notes that two Amazon MGM releases on the same day, and that "something might move."
The reports give one U.S. release date on the holiday itself. Sortiraparis, which covers Paris, gives no French release date. None of the cited pages describes a streaming plan for the film. World of Reel's writer calls it a possible contender for one of the strangest major-studio Christmas Day releases in a long time.
What Lizard Music is about and who appears in it
According to TheWrap, a boy left to his own devices discovers a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, along with a hidden door. His search leads him to Chicken Man, an eccentric septuagenarian, and his companion, a 111-year-old chicken named Claudia. Their quest for a hidden society becomes a journey through invisible worlds and the bond between lost souls.
Sortiraparis says the quest leads toward a secret society of reptile musicians, and Variety Australia describes a bond between two lost souls who discover magic not only in what they find but in each other.
World of Reel describes the film as a live-action and CGI hybrid family holiday movie. Dwayne Johnson plays Chicken Man, and Theo Leber, a newcomer according to World of Reel, plays the boy.
World of Reel lists Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Arya Parvathi, Regina Hall, Colman Domingo, Jeff Goldblum, Rachel McAdams, Andrew Dice Clay and David Krumholtz among the cast. Sortiraparis, however, describes Domingo, Goldblum, McAdams and Krumholtz as voice cast. It says their involvement was announced on 15 October, but their roles have not been detailed.
The chicken's age is reported two ways. World of Reel, TheWrap, Seven Bucks Productions and Variety Australia give 111, while the Deadline synopsis quoted by JoBlo describes a seventy-year-old chicken named Claudia.
World of Reel reports that principal photography began in August 2026 and that Johnson sat for five hours of makeup daily to play a man in his seventies. Sortiraparis attributes the same five-hour figure to Johnson's remarks at the D23 event in August 2026. Johnson pitched the film, according to World of Reel, as a Willy Wonka-style story from Safdie's imagination.
Variety Australia reports that Johnson compared the character's final look to Clint Eastwood at 75. He described the look as lean, with sinewy muscles.
How the project reached Amazon MGM in 2025
TheWrap reported on 16 October 2025 that Amazon MGM's United Artists had acquired the film in a competitive situation, with Benny Safdie set to write the script from Pinkwater's children's novel. Variety Australia's report, dated 17 October 2025, also names United Artists and Scott Stuber as the buyers, and says the news broke during the promotion of The Smashing Machine.
World of Reel and Sortiraparis give the novel's date as 1976.
Seven Bucks Productions posted its own announcement on 20 October 2025, saying the film had landed at Amazon MGM. The announcement also links to The Hollywood Reporter for further coverage. The same page links to a September 2025 story on a live-action Teddy Ruxpin movie that was in the works at Amazon MGM with Seven Bucks and Story Kitchen.
“The report dates the film to Christmas Day, eight days after several other December releases.”
Johnson's producing role through Seven Bucks Productions
TheWrap's 2025 report lists five producers from four groups: Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists, Benny Safdie through Out for the Count Productions, Johnson through Seven Bucks Productions, and David Koplan through Magnetic Fields Entertainment. Variety Australia lists the same producers and companies.
JoBlo's article gives different company names: Down For The Count Productions for Safdie and Sven Bucks Productions for Johnson. The Seven Bucks Productions name is the one used on the company's own site and in TheWrap's report. JoBlo also says David Koplan, who produced The Smashing Machine, is attached as a producer.
Johnson's role in the reports is therefore twofold: he stars as Chicken Man and is also one of the producers, through Seven Bucks Productions.
A second project for Johnson and Safdie
TheWrap describes The Smashing Machine, the A24 film, as the earlier project in which Benny Safdie directed Dwayne Johnson. World of Reel describes Lizard Music as the pair's follow-up, making it their second project together. JoBlo reports that The Smashing Machine won the Silver Lion at Venice but earned only $17.1M worldwide. Variety Australia notes that Johnson gained 30 lbs to play MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine.
In TheWrap's 2025 report, Courtenay Valenti, Amazon MGM Studios' head of film, streaming and theatrical, said the studio was fortunate that the filmmakers had trusted it as a studio partner. Variety Australia also quotes Valenti as saying the studio was thrilled to partner with Johnson again. Scott Stuber said the world the pair created is unlike anything either had made before.
Safdie said he read the book to his two sons, and that he and they were riveted by its imagination and wonder. He also said making a movie everyone can join was a thrill. Beyond the date and cast, the reports cited here give no further release details.
The Seven Bucks site also links to a November 2025 story on The Smashing Machine, the film that stars Johnson and Emily Blunt, and its Oscar prospects.
