Lionsgate Lands Action Comedy Spec ‘Three Hitmen And A Baby’ From Dave Matalon & Matt Altman; 87North To Produce 

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate has snapped up rights to Three Hitmen and a Baby, an action comedy spec from Dave Matalon (Totally Killer) and Matt Altman (Red Widow), Deadline can exclusively reveal.

Pic’s logline is being kept under wraps, though its title clearly riffs on the classic 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby, starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson, about three bachelors whose lives change forever when a baby suddenly appears on their doorstep. Kelly McCormick and David Leitch (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train) will produce through their company 87North, for whom Max Jacoby is overseeing the project. Meredith Wieck and Jon Humphrey are overseeing for Lionsgate.

Screenwriter Matalon most recently co-wrote the slasher comedy Totally Killer! for Blumhouse and Amazon, which headlined Prime Video’s Halloween season last year. As we first reported, his sci-fi action script Level Up, also written with Altman, is in development with The Hideaway and Vandal Entertainment. Previously selling his script The Communion Letters to Syfy/UCP, he’s also the author of the book The Concise Guide to Sounding Smart at Parties, published by Random House.

Altman sold his female-driven action revenge thriller Red Widow to STX in a bidding war, also seeing the script make the 2016 Hit List. He then adapted a YA novel for Lionsgate/Summit and Alloy Entertainment, sold his action feature Locked & Loaded to Solstice Entertainment, and produced horror film, Feed the Devil, which he co-wrote with director Max Perrier.

Currently in its 10th year in operation, the action-oriented 87North is one of the companies behind the John Wick franchise and has also produced titles like The Fall Guy, Bullet Train and Atomic Blonde, helmed by company principal Leitch, along with Nobody, Jamie Foxx vampire pic Day Shift, R-rated holiday comedy Violent Night starring David Harbour, and more. Next set to release Ke Huy Quan-fronted action comedy Love Hurts via Universal on February 7, their slate for next year also includes the female-driven John Wick spin-off Ballerina and Nobody 2, with Bob Odenkirk back in action.

Matalon is repped by Paradigm, Gotham Group, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Altman by Parallax Talent Management and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; and 87North by CAA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.