EXCLUSIVE: Brian Robbin’s family entertainment company, Big Shot Pictures, has optioned the feature rights to adapt CookieRun, the South Korean hit gaming franchise which counts over 300 million downloads. The project will be in partnership with Devsisters, the IP’s creator and owner.

The plan is for a 2029 global release, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the franchise’s original game, OvenBreak.

Launched by Devsisters in South Korea in 2009 and inspired by the folk tale The Gingerbread Man, CookieRun follows Cookies who escape the witch’s oven that brought them to life. The franchise spans such game titles as CookieRun: Kingdom, CookieRun: OvenBreak, and CookieRun: Crumble, plus the CookieRun: Braverse Trading Card Game, alongside merchandise and live experiences. The U.S. is the franchise’s top market, accounting for 65% of global merchandise sales in 2025. In addition, CookieRun: Kingdom was named one of YouTube’s Top 10 U.S. Trending Topics in 2025, the only standalone game on the list.

“We are thrilled to bring a phenomenon as beloved as Cookie Run to the big screen,” said Brian Robbins, CEO of Big Shot Pictures. “Expanding this vibrant world beyond mobile screens into cinema allows us to connect with millions of existing fans while introducing the franchise to new global audiences. BigShot’s expertise in digital-first storytelling and short-form engagement uniquely suits us to amplify the massive online conversation already surrounding these characters.”

“CookieRun began as a mobile game and has since expanded into new territory, from merchandise and trading cards to live events,” said Kilhyeon Cho, CEO of Devsisters. “At the center of it all is a richly imagined dessert world, home to Cookies who break out of the oven to choose their own fate. Bringing that world to the big screen expands the CookieRun experience in a way no other medium can. We hope it gives longtime fans a new way to meet the characters they’ve grown up with, and newcomers a message of courage that stays with them. With Big Shot as our partner, we’re excited to share this world with audiences everywhere.”

Big Shot recently acquired the Eloise franchise and a 25% stake in Alvin and the Chipmunks through a landmark joint venture with Bagdasarian Productions – with a theatrical film in 2028, the company is in pre-production on an anime series with global streaming phenomenon IShowSpeed, written and produced by One Piece showrunner Matt Owens. They also have a strategic partnership with YouTube sensation Adley McBride (A for Adley) and Spacestation, and short-form series and film with creators, The Bucket List Family. Big Shot has a first-look theatrical distribution deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off Resident Evil, which is now Zach Cregger’s highest-grossing film at over $280M worldwide, Paul Walter Hauser has inked to star in Garden City, a new crime drama from Magenta Light Studios.

Based on a true story. the film is written and directed by Chappaquiddick‘s John Curran. Production kicks off in Atlanta in January.

Garden City follows Dan Day (Walter Hauser), a quiet resident of Garden City, Kansas, whose life becomes unexpectedly entangled in a plot targeting the city’s Somali Muslim community. As the threat unfolds, the lives of those at the center of the thwarted attack begin to intersect, revealing a community grappling with fear, prejudice, identity and belonging. What begins as an isolated act ultimately becomes a deeply human story about the people caught on opposite sides of a growing divide — and the choices they make when their community is put at risk.

Curran said, “I wrote the role of Dan with Paul in mind, and his commitment to the project and contributions to the script have been invaluable. I’m especially thrilled to be working with Bob Yari and his team again, who share our passion for this timely story.”

Magenta Light’s Yari and Amanda Harvey are producing alongside Walter Hauser, as well as Alex Gayner and Matt Cooper.

Yari commented, “GARDEN CITY is the kind of story that stays with you because it is rooted in real people and events, while also speaking to larger questions about community, human connection and the choices that shape our lives. I’ve had the opportunity to work with John before, and I’ve always admired his ability to approach layered stories. He has created a thoughtful and compelling screenplay, and Paul Walter Hauser has an extraordinary ability to bring depth, nuance and emotional complexity to his characters. We look forward to seeing John’s vision for the film brought to the screen.”

Walter Hauser plays Paul, an Umbrella Corporation scientist, in Cregger’s Resident Evil. Upcoming, the Emmy winner will be seen starring in Scooby-Doo: Origins for Netflix, as well as films including Deep Eddy, The Very Best People, Tommy Karate and Turpentine. He is repped by WME, Artists First and Schreck Rose.

Best known for directing the political drama Chappaquiddick, starring Jason Clarke as Ted Kennedy, Curran has more recently worked with Clarke on his Apple series The Last Frontier. Also behind films like Tracks, The Painted Veil and We Don’t Live Here Anymore, he is repped by CAA and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.

Magenta Light Studios is behind titles like Strange Darling, the lauded cat-and-mouse thriller from JT Mollner, and Renny Harlin’s Deep Water. This Friday, they take to theaters with James McAvoy’s directorial debut, California Schemin’. Other upcoming titles include Bharat Nalluri’s Flavia de Luce: Girl Detective, in theaters December 4, and Francesca Gregorini’s Anna Nicole Smith flick Hurricanna, out January 8.