'Night Wolf': STX And Kevin Hart Will Bring Us A "New Twist On The Superhero Genre"

Just when you thought the superhero genre had been done to death, Kevin Hart and his HartBeat Productions are coming through with a film that will supposedly bring a "new twist" to superhero movies. HartBeat Productions is teaming up with STX Entertainment to develop Night Wolf, a superhero comedy in the style of Meet the Parents.

STXfilms, a division of STX Entertainment, has acquired Night Wolf as a pitch from Detective Pikachu screenwriters Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit. Kevin Hart and his HartBeat Productions are attached to develop the project as a "high concept comic twist on the superhero genre," according to STXfilms chair Adam Fogelson.

"After we acquired Night Wolf, we submitted it to Kevin Hart and the Team at HartBeat hoping they would love it as much as we did," Fogelson said. "It is a big, broad comedy and the idea is great fun and perfectly matched with Kevin's comedic talent. We are thrilled to be working on what will now be our fourth film together."

"I am excited to be working with our friends at STX again," Hart added. "They brought us a great project with Night Wolf. I instantly fell in love with this pitch about an everyday guy who is meeting his in-laws for the first time and unwittingly discovers his dad to be is secretly a superhero."

STX describes Night Wolf as a "Meet the Parents-esque encounter where a man (Hart) meets his future father-in-law for the first time, only to discover he is secretly the superhero known as the Night Wolf."

It sounds up Hart's alley as a broad comedy where Hart is the frantic straight man reacting to an over-the-top situation (see: Ride Along, Central Intelligence). In a standard superhero film, Hart may be cast as supporting comic relief, but in this case he gets to be the protagonist, which is where the twist lies, I guess. Well, that and the fact that he's seemingly not a superhero himself. It's not something we've often seen in superhero movies before, but to call it "a new twist" may be slightly hyperbolic. But it seems like a film suited to Hart's strengths and will likely rake in plenty of bucks at the box office, considering the star's successful box office track with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and the Secret Life of Pets films.

And speaking of Jumanji, Hart also returns in Jumanji: The Next Level, which opens in theaters on December 13, 2019.