A New Hangover-Style Comedy Movie Is Finally Happening - And It's Eyeing a Huge Lead Star

Blow Up The Chat, a new comedy movie inspired by The Hangover, is in the works and has its eyes on a major lead star. The Hangover trilogy stars four best friends (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha) as they retrace their drunken antics and lost memories from the night before. All three movies were released from 2009 to 2013 from director Todd Phillips, who went on to helm Joker.

The R-rated trilogy remains one of the biggest and most beloved comedy sagas of all time. The Hangover holds 79% critic and 84% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes while the two sequels are rated "Rotten" by both.

According to a Patreon post from scooper Daniel Richtman, Warner Bros.' new comedy movie Blow Up The Chat is eyeing Oscar-nominee Adam Driver for the leading role. The report marks one step forward to delivering fans a spiritual successor to one of the most iconic comedy franchises of all time, The Hangover.

Adam Driver picked up Oscar nominations for Marriage Story and BlacKkKlansman, while he is most famous for his roles as Star Wars' Kylo Ren.

Development on Blow Up The Chat was first reported by Deadline in December, teasing its focus on a group of best friends whose "private and wildly inappropriate group chat" is leaked:

"The film watches as a group of best’ friends private and wildly inappropriate, year-long group chat is hacked, which risks upending their individual lives and friendship with one another."

Blow Up The Chat will be directed by Jeff Schaeffer who has written episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld, along with co-directing the outrageous 2004 comedy Eurotrip and working on the script for The Dictator. The script hails from Hotel Transylvania: Transformania writers Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo.

What Comes Next for Blow Up The Chat

It's early days in the casting process for Blow Up The Chat, and even if Adam Driver is being eyed for the lead, there's no guarantee there have been any real talks or that he will accept if there are.

Regardless, to fit the Hangover-esque bill, they will presumably be seeking a mostly male cast of besties in their 30s to 40s to surround Driver, such as Jake Gyllenhaal and Liam Hemsworth, who could be interesting candidates.

In an age where modern comedy has been filtered compared to the outrageousness of the 2000s and early 2010s, a tale of characters with a "wildly inappropriate" group chat leaking is bound to excite many.

The concept certainly has the potential to recreate the magic of The Hangover with a mission to cover up their diabolical humor that could destabilize their whole lives, careers, friendships, and relationships. 

In terms of when Blow Up The Chat could be released, it's still early days for the Warner Bros. comedy. If casting is getting started now, production could begin later this year or early next, perhaps in time to release in 2026 or 2027, but that remains pure speculation until development progresses further.