Kim Kardashian Will Play the Lead Role in Forthcoming Ensemble Comedy ‘The Fifth Wheel’—Which Was Just Bought By Netflix

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 27 November 2023

As Marie Claire previously reported, Kim Kardashian is tackling comedy for her next acting credit—a movie called The Fifth Wheel, which has been embroiled in a bidding war between studios.

Kardashian will not just act in the female-driven film but will also produce it, and was hands-on in pitching the movie, even attending each meeting to deliver her pitch. Kardashian’s “skills as a businesswoman appear to have swayed Hollywood, as multiple studios as ‘lining up to get in business’ with her,” Page Six reports.

Deadline reported that “Multiple bids are already on the table, as five studios battle for the package.” And it seems we have a winner: after a bidding war, the movie is coming to *drum roll please* Netflix, Entertainment Tonight reports.

The week-long battle of the studios saw the streaming service emerge victorious, acquiring the distribution rights to the forthcoming comedy. Kardashian is set to lead the ensemble cast—though we don’t yet know who else will star in the film alongside her.

The movie was written by Janine Brito and Paula Pell, the latter’s credits including Saturday Night Live. For those who wonder if Kardashian can pull off a comedy—lest we forget her pretty impressive turn on SNL in October 2021.

The Fifth Wheel was courted by several different distributors and a theatrical release was considered, The Hollywood Reporter reports; but, ultimately, we’ll be able to watch the film from the comfort of our own couches.

Though it's unclear exactly how much Netflix purchased the film for, TMZ reports that the movie got picked up by the streaming giant's "mid-budget" team, which, according to reports, means that Netflix aims to spend between $30 million to $80 million on the project.

Kardashian’s most recent acting credit was a far departure from comedy—she played celebrity publicist Siobhan Corbyn in the latest season of the anthology horror series American Horror Story: Delicate.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.