John Cena Saves the World in an Action Film Inspired by Matchbox Toy Cars

Matchbox the Movie, an action adventure inspired by Mattel’s famous die-cast cars, arrives on Apple TV on 9 October. John Cena leads the cast and Sam Hargrave, director of both Extraction films, is behind the camera.

The film comes from Apple Studios, Skydance and Mattel Studios. For Mattel it is the next step in the film programme it expanded after the success of Barbie.

What the film is about

Sean Walker is a former soldier turned CIA agent. Years later he returns to his home town and meets the childhood friends he once raced toy cars with. The reunion goes badly: the whole group is drugged and kidnapped by people hunting for a nuclear warhead. The CIA concludes that Walker and his friends stole the bomb themselves, so to clear their names they have to steal it back.

Who is in it

Cena is surrounded by a large ensemble:

• John Cena as Sean Walker;
• Jessica Biel as Aimee;
• Sam Richardson as Crosby;
• Arturo Castro as Ted;
• Teyonah Parris as Charmaine;
• Danai Gurira as Helen;
• Golshifteh Farahani as Robbie;
• Corey Stoll, Bill Camp and Randeep Hooda.

Behind the camera

Sam Hargrave came to directing from stunt work: he coordinated stunts on Marvel films and then made Extraction and its sequel for Netflix with Chris Hemsworth. The screenplay is by David Coggeshall, the cinematographer is Pedro Luque, the editor is Dirk Westervelt and the music is by Alex Belcher. Skydance chief David Ellison is among the producers.

The shoot moved across several countries: Budapest in January 2025, Morocco in March (Casablanca, Erfoud and the Merzouga dunes), and Slovakia, where filming wrapped in April. The running time is 126 minutes.

Where the cars come from

Matchbox began in Britain in the 1950s, selling die-cast model cars in boxes the size of a matchbox, which gave the brand its name. Today it belongs to Mattel, and in the film the toys are more of a starting point: the heroes grew up with them and now get behind the wheel of real cars.

When to watch

The trailer premiered in July at San Diego Comic-Con, and the film launches worldwide on Apple TV on Friday, 9 October. There are no reviews yet at the time of publication. Cast and stills are on the film’s page in our AMDB database.