'Red' Writers Jon and Erich Hoeber to Pen Dave Bautista STX Comedy

The untitled film will see Bautista play a hardened CIA operative at the mercy of a 9-year-old girl.

STXfilms has tapped Jon and Erich Hoeber, the sibling screenwriting team behind the Red action franchise, to write a Dave Bautista-starring action-comedy.

"Jon and Erich have a unique writing style that is perfectly matched with Dave’s blend of action and comedy expertise," said Adam Fogelson, chairman of STXfilms, a division of Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment, in a statement.

The Hoebers previously worked with Lionsgate on the action comedy Red (2010) and its sequel Red 2 (2013), which grossed a collective $347 million worldwide.The duo also wrote Warner Bros.' monster movie Meg, starring Jason Statham and Ruby Rose.

The untitled STX comedy will star Bautista as a hardened CIA operative who finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, having been sent undercover to surveil her family.

Bautista and Jonathan Meisner will produce the film, and STXfilms’ senior vp production Drew Simon and director of development Kate Vorhoff will oversee production. STX has other projects in development with Bautista, including the recently announced short-form action-comedy VR series from the company’s immersive content division, STXsurreal.

Bautista is repped by Gersh, Meisner Ent Group and Jay Rosenthal at MSK.