By my estimation the best take so far on doing any worthy homage to either Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars can be found in the opening credits to the brilliant one-season wonder series Duster.  The credits showed toy cars subbing for the cars in the series as they race through the southwest, ultimately doing loop-de-loops just like a classic Hot Wheels toy car track.

This year you get a double dose of high-octane action fun with two movies.  First, Mattel is bringing another property to the movies with Matchbox the Movie starring John Cena and Jessica Biel, directed by stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave.  What connects the plot to the toys?  About as much as in the movie Battleship apparently, the stars played with the toys as kids and are now off on a dangerous adventure.  The trailer arrived the same time during San Diego Comic-Con weekend as the trailer for The Stunt Driver.  That movie is a biopic starring Jay Baruchel as Ken Carter and Ben Forster as Evel Knievel, directed by Michael Dowse, who directed the hilarious biopic series The Sticky.  I don’t know about you, been when I played with little metal toy cars as a kid it was all about stunts and crashes.

But you don’t need to decide anything.  Watch them both.  First, check out these first trailers for Matchbox the Movie and The Stunt Driver:

Matchbox the Movie leans hard into the Fast and Furious vibe.  The Stunt Driver features in the incomparable Jay Baruchel, whose lead performance in the 2023 movie BlackBerry was as good as it gets.

The Stunt Driver comes to theaters September 25, 2026.  Look for Matchbox the Movie coming to Apple TV exclusively, streaming October 9, 2026.

C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg