Universal Pictures has greenlit Naughty, a holiday comedy with Olivia Wilde directing and Jennifer Aniston and Peter Dinklage starring, targeting a theatrical release on November 5, 2027, according to Deadline (Deadline).

The premise is exactly the kind of high-concept logline that studio development teams chase. Aniston plays Mallory, a mother whose only hope of securing custody of her son is to track down Santa Claus and convince him to testify in her divorce hearing. Dinklage plays Santa. Wilde reportedly had both actors in mind for the roles from the start.

Jimmy Warden wrote the script from his original spec — an original screenplay shopped to studios before production is set up — which Universal landed in 2023 with Wilde already attached to direct. LuckyChap, the production company behind Barbie, is producing alongside Wilde and Warden. Universal's executive vice president of production development Sara Scott and director of production development Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project for the studio.

The November 2027 release slot plants Naughty firmly in the holiday corridor, the stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas when studios slot family-skewing comedies and tentpoles alike. The date gives the production roughly fifteen months before it needs to be on screens — a comfortable but not generous window for a film that has not yet begun shooting.

Wilde's most recent film, The Invite, gives the project an added layer of momentum. Deadline described it as one of the best reviewed films of the year. It holds a 97% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was acquired by A24 after an all-night bidding war at the Sundance Film Festival, where it posted the festival's highest film sale. The Invite has earned $20 million domestically — the United States and Canada — and $16 million internationally, per Deadline.

For Aniston, Naughty adds a studio comedy to a slate that has leaned heavily on streaming in recent years. For Dinklage, it is a return to the kind of elevated studio project that has defined his post-Game of Thrones career. The pairing of the two actors is untested on screen, but the roles — a desperate mother and a Santa Claus dragged into a custody fight — give both room to play against expectation.

Universal has not yet announced a production start date. With a November 2027 corridor locked, expect casting to fill out and a shoot to begin within the next year.