John Cena to Star in ‘Playing With Fire’ for Paramount Players (EXCLUSIVE)

By Justin Kroll

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – John Cena is in final negotiations to star in the Paramount Players movie “,” sources tell Variety.

The family comedy revolves around a group of rugged wildfire fighters who meet their match when they rescue a trio of rambunctious children.

Todd Garner and Sean Robins of Broken Road Productions are on board to produce “Playing With Fire.”  bought the spec script from Dan Ewen this past February and hired Matt Lieberman to pen a rewrite. Paramount executive VP Matt Dines is overseeing for the studio.

Paramount Pictures launched Paramount Players in June, with veteran producer and executive Brian Robbins at the helm. Robbins is working with Viacom’s Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and BET to generate projects, while the new division focuses on contemporary properties.

Cena’s latest big-screen role was alongside Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz in the Universal comedy “Blockers,” which ended its theatrical run with $94 million worldwide. Cena was recently tapped by fellow WWE alum Dwayne Johnson to star in “The Janson Directive.”

In December, he is appearing in “Bumblebee,” the sixth installment in Paramount’s “Transformers” franchise. Cena will also voice a character in Universal’s fantasy adventure “The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle” co-starring Robert Downey Jr. and Selena Gomez.

He is repped by ICM Partners.