After appearing in two Fast & Furious movies as Vin Diesel’s brother, John Cena is finally leading his own action-packed car movie. Cena stars in Matchbox: The Movie as former soldier-turned-international spy Sean, whose reunion with his childhood friends transforms into a high-stakes adventure. Even though it does have some similarities with the Fast & Furious franchise, Mattel Films’ newest movie is still very different from it.

The live-action Matchbox movie hails from Extraction director Sam Hargrave, with David Coggeshall and Jonathan Tropper writing the screenplay. The movie also stars Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, Teyonah Parris, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp, Golshifteh Farahani, and Danai Gurira. It is scheduled to debut on October 9, 2026.

“The film is an action-packed, globetrotting adventure about a group of friends since childhood who have their lives upended when undercover CIA agent Sean (Cena), their long-absent former leader, returns to their small town and unwittingly gets them embroiled in a frantic international pursuit to save the world,” reads the official synopsis.

How John Cena’s Matchbox: The Movie differs from the Fast & Furious franchise

Watching the Matchbox: The Movie’s first trailer has got me very excited by its thrilling action sequences, which were more impressive knowing that all of it was done practically. Hargrave and the creative team decided to utilize more practical stunts to highlight the film’s car toy brand origins, and effectively capture the cast’s adrenaline-fueled reactions. Because of this, the upcoming film has already broken the world record of physically rolling a car 13.5 times on camera.

Hargrave’s practical approach to Matchbox: The Movie’s action scenes is quite different from what the recent Fast & Furious movies were doing. Although the popular franchise did use massive practical stunts throughout its movies, the creative team began relying more and more on CGI for most of its action sequences to bring to life unrealistic, out-of-this-world scenes, such as cars driving through skyscrapers.

Besides the stunts, I think the moviegoers will find Matchbox: The Movie’s comedic element a good break from Fast & Furious’ serious tone. I’m also convinced that the audience will be entertained by the new movie’s incredible ensemble cast, whose insane chemistry with Cena is already evident in the trailer. Although Fast & Furious also deals with a similar “found family” theme, the upcoming live-action adaptation should be able to portray this better because of how relatable and hilarious the main characters are. Even though we’ve only seen a glimpse of their interactions, you just can’t help but root for the main characters’ friendship.

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