‘The Kissing Booth’ Filmmakers Tackling ‘Son Of The Mob’ Rom-Com
EXCLUSIVE: Red Sage Studios, the YA-focused company founded by former Amazon MGM Studios International head James Farrell, and Sun Distribution (Telefilms Group) have added an adaptation of the Gordon Korman novel Son of the Mob to their slate.
Son of the Mob is a romantic comedy following Vince, the teenage son of a mob boss who longs for a normal life but can’t escape his family’s criminal ties. When he falls for the daughter of the FBI agent investigating his family, his worlds collide in increasingly comedic fashion.
Vince Marcello, director of Netflix’s hit YA trilogy The Kissing Booth starring Joey King, is set to direct and produce, working from a script written with Jay Arnold, who collaborated with him on the two Kissing Booth sequels.
Production is slated to take place in Canada with Vancouver-based Brightlight Pictures.
Of his initial reaction to Son of the Mob, Marcello said, “I was laughing from the opening scene. Being Italian American myself, I could immediately visualize these characters, and I was in from the moment James shared the project with me.”
While Marcello & Arnold’s Kissing Booth films, based on the novels by Beth Reekles, premiered before Netflix began reporting biannual viewership data — a practice the streamer is about to end, shifting to an annual report beginning in Q1 2027 — we know that they were big for the service. The first film set a rewatch rate record, with nearly 50% of viewers watching the film more than once, with the second generating 209.2 million viewing hours in its first 28 days, and the third notching 451M viewing minutes in its first week, per Nielsen.
Son of the Mob‘s announcement comes following word that Red Sage and Sun Distribution are partnering on an adaptation of Jessica Cunsolo’s YA bestseller She’s with Me from Culpa Mía‘s Domingo González. Other projects on Red Sage Studios’ slate include The Bridge Kingdom and Let’s Play.
Marcello is represented by The Gotham Group, IAG, and Davis Law Group. Canadian children’s/YA author Korman is repped by WME and Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown NY. Red Sage Studios is with CAA.
