'Rick and Morty' writer Jessica Gao and 'Silicon Valley' star Jimmy O. Yang are among the executive producers.
Amblin Partners and Dan Lin's Rideback are partnering for a new comedy inspired by the life of comedian Jo Koy.
Easter Sunday will be based on the life experiences and stand-up comedy of Koy — a veteran comic with two Comedy Central and two Netflix specials — and will be set around a family gathering to celebrate Easter Sunday.
Comedian and writer Ken Cheng (Wilfred) will pen the screenplay.
Rideback’s Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich will produce. Koy and Cheng will executive produce, along with Joe Meloche, Jessica Gao, Silicon Valley star Jimmy O. Yang and Rideback’s Nick Reynolds. Holly Bario will oversee the production for Amblin Partners.
Easter Sunday will be released domestically by Universal Pictures. Amblin Partners and Universal will share international distribution rights.
“This is a dream come true for me to work with such a legendary production company like Amblin who have produced some of my all-time favorite movies from Jurassic Park to 1917. I’m so honored to be a part of the Amblin family, and to have them help bring my personal stories to the big screen,” Koy said Tuesday in a statement.
“Jo is one of the most popular comics working today and I’m delighted to be starting this journey with him. Jo’s comedy is at once unique to his life and his experiences, and at the same time relatable and familiar to us all," added Bario, Amblin Partners’ president of production. "With every performance he shares his comedy, his heart and his family with us. His poor family ... who will now be lovingly made fun of in a whole new medium. To them, I apologize.”
Koy, who is repped by CAA, Arsonhouse Entertainment and Hirsch Wallerstein, was awarded the “Stand-Up Comedian of the Year” prize at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal in 2018, and in 2019 he reached No. 1 on the Billboard comedy album chart with his stand-up effort Live From Seattle.
Amblin is coming off of the release of 1917, which earned a massive 10 Academy Award nominations and won three at this year's ceremony. Meanwhile, it was recently announced that a sequel to the $1 billion grossing live-action Aladdin is in the works at Rideback.
