Netflix and Lionsgate Team Up on Christmas Eve Thriller Fairytale in New York

Netflix and Lionsgate are teaming up on an action thriller called Fairytale in New York, Deadline reported on 13 November 2026.

Aaron Pierre will star in the film, and Jalmari Helander will direct. Lionsgate is producing, and Netflix is on board to distribute it, which means Netflix will make the finished movie available to its viewers.

The story is set on Christmas Eve in New York City. An unassuming cabbie, a taxi driver with no reason to expect trouble, sets out on a night of vengeance after a gift meant for his estranged son is stolen. Estranged means the two have drifted apart, and the gift is the thread that pulls him back into the city's streets.

The screenplay comes from Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, who wrote it as an original spec script. A spec script is written on speculation, before any studio has agreed to buy or make it. Haines and Noshirvani will also serve as executive producers, alongside Scott Sheldon of FlynnPictureCo.

Beau Flynn will produce for FlynnPictureCo, and Kevin King Templeton will produce for Templeton Media. Producers handle the day-to-day making of a film, from hiring the crew to keeping the schedule on track. Executive producers usually work at a higher level, helping to bring the project together and secure its financing.

For anyone wondering how a film like this gets made, the split between producing and distributing is the key idea. One company may help make the movie, while another decides how and where people watch it. Here, Lionsgate sits on the making side and Netflix on the viewing side.

Those details can take months to settle, and they often follow once the cast and crew are fully in place. For now, the news is a named star, a named director, and a Christmas Eve story that begins with a stolen present.