Zombieland Director to Helm Buddy Cop Film Starring John Cena and Kumail Nanjiani

One’s a rising Pakistani-American comedian who’s due to host Saturday Night Live, and the other’s a professional wrestler whose name is John Cena. Yes, buddy cop movies, or “wunza movies” as the late Roger Ebert called them, are alive and well. This time, our mismatched pair that will result in apparent hilarity consists of Kumail Nanjiani and John Cena, directed by Ruben Fleischer (Gangster Squad, Zombieland).

The actual premise of the movie (besides the fact that wunza big, serious white dude and wunza small, skinny, comedic person of color) is not known, but Deadline does report that attached to this movie are producers David Bernad and Murray Miller (both involved with HBO’s Tour De Pharmacy and 7 Days in Hell). Bernad and Fleischer co-founded production company The District, responsible for NBC sitcom Superstore. The two also produced Unicorn Store (that’s a lot of stores), the directorial debut of actress Brie Larson. With all of the collaboration between Bernad and Fleischer, one would think that they should be the stars of their own wunza movie.

Universal will distribute the movie—in the meantime, next in line for Fleischer is a film starring Tom Hardy as Spider-Man nemesis Venom, releasing Oct. 5, 2018. Perhaps Fleischer can bring in Tom Holland and make it into another buddy cop movie—wunza free-spirited high schooler, wunza bloodthirsty alien symbiote-enhanced monster. Then, hilarity ensues!