'Fatherhood' With Kevin Hart Headed To Netflix For Father's Day

Fatherhood, a Paul Weitz-directed pic starring Kevin Hart, is headed to Netflix on Father's Day. The project was originally set up at Sony Pictures, and has had its release date shuffled around more than once. Netflix stepped in and bought the worldwide rights for the movie, and will now premiere it in June. Higher Ground Productions, the banner created by Barack and Michelle Obama, will present the film alongside Netflix and Sony.

Netflix announced today that they'll release Kevin Hart's Fatherhood on the streaming platform on June 18, 2021, which just happens to be Father's Day. What are the odds?! I wonder if they planned that! Hart leads a cast that includes Alfre Woodard (Juanita, Clemency), Lil Rel Howery (Bad Trip, Get Out), DeWanda Wise (Someone Great, Jurassic World: Dominion), Anthony Carrigan (Barry), Melody Hurd (Them), and Paul Reiser (The Kominsky Method).

The film is based on the book Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love by Matthew Logelin, and is described as a "heartwarming, funny, and emotional true story" where Hart "takes on the toughest job in the world: Fatherhood." The book's synopsis offers some more insight:

Matt and Liz Logelin were high school sweethearts. After years of long-distance dating, the pair finally settled together in Los Angeles, and they had it all: a perfect marriage, a gorgeous new home, and a baby girl on the way. Liz's pregnancy was rocky, but they welcomed Madeline, beautiful and healthy, into the world. Just twenty-seven hours later, Liz suffered a pulmonary embolism and died instantly, without ever holding the daughter whose arrival she had so eagerly awaited. Though confronted with devastating grief and the responsibilities of a new and single father, Matt did not surrender to devastation; he chose to keep moving forward-to make a life for Maddy.

I'm not sure how faithful the film is remaining to the true story, but this sounds like the type of film that's tailor-made to make you cry your damn eyes out. So prepare your tear ducts for Father's Day, folks. Paul Weitz directs Fatherhood and co-writes the script with Dana Stevens. Sony originally had Fatherhood, and at one point had it scheduled for an April 3, 2020 release. But 2020 didn't go as planned, and the studio kept shuffling the date around. It got pushed to January 2021, then to April 2021. Now, it'll arrive on Netflix, in June. Sony will still be presenting the film, alongside Higher Ground Productions, the production banner created by the Obamas.