Cameron Diaz will star alongside Jamie Foxx in a new Netflix original movie, officially ending Diaz’s retirement (which some of us at The Verge apparently never got the memo about). Foxx teased the new film, titled Back in Action. in a tweet with an audio call between him, Diaz and Tom Brady, whose retirement from football lasted a full 40 days.
In a press release, Netflix isn’t revealing much about the upcoming film, other than that it’s an action comedy directed, produced, and written by Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon. Central Intelligence’s Beau Bauman will serve as producer, and Neighbors’ Brendan O’Brien is helping with the script. Netflix says the film’s premise will remain “under wraps” and that production will begin later this year. Diaz was last seen in the 2014 remake of Annie, which also starred Foxx. The couple previously had roles in the 1999 sports drama Any Given Sunday.
Cameron Diaz is not officially retiring!!
She’s set to star in a new Netflix movie with Jamie Foxx – and we have an unexpected person to thank for putting her back in action… https://t.co/BciMJs5bGo
– Netflix (@netflix) June 29, 2022
While Netflix currently has 74.58 million subscribers in the US and Canada and about 222 million worldwide, the platform reported losing subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. In May, a survey found that 3.6 million more long-time subscribers left Netflix after they unsubscribed from the platform last quarter.
As Netflix tries to attract new subscribers (and retain its existing ones), a movie starring the likes of Diaz and Foxx could help. Netflix’s Project Power, which also stars Jamie Foxx, managed to attract 75 million viewers when it was released in 2020. Last year Netflix released Red Notice starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds and is also releasing The Gray Man next month. with Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling.
Aside from bolstering its content, Netflix plans to introduce a cheaper, ad-supported tier later this year to counter some of its recent rate hikes. It tests ways to tackle password sharing in selected countries and also examines live streams.