Casting is currently underway for “Hooters: The Movie.”

A movie is being made about Hooters — yep, Hooters

Casting is currently underway for “Hooters: The Movie.”

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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August 28, 2026 4:45 p.m. ET

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Hooters restaurant on January 12, 2007, in Seoul, South Korea. Credit:

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty

- A film is being made about Hooters.

- Casting is now underway on *Hooters: The Movie*.

- The film will showcase the restaurant chain’s origin story.

Applebees and Chili’s are about to be so pissed.

It was announced on Friday that* Hooters: The Movie* is in the works. The independent project is being produced by members of the restaurant chain’s founding partners, and casting is officially underway on the Hooters origin story.

Here’s the saucy logline: “Based on the real events behind Hooters’ founding, *Hooters: The Movie* centers on Ted and Lenny, two lifelong friends from a small-town in Iowa who accidentally launch a national restaurant empire, only to find everything they built threatened by the federal government. The adventure begins when Ted becomes infatuated with Diane, whom he first sees from afar when featured in a spring break commercial. Determined to find her in real life, Ted talks a hesitant Lenny into joining him on a road trip to Clearwater Beach, Florida. Diane would later become the very first Hooters Girl.”

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Founded in 1983 as a single restaurant in Clearwater, Florida, Hooters soon became a cultural phenomenon, thanks to the delicious wings and the...let’s say, recognizable uniforms. Before this, Hooters most memorable big screen moment probably came in *Big Daddy*, in which Sonny (Adam Sandler) constantly jabs Corinne (Leslie Mann) for previously working there as a waitress, only for the final scene to be a surprise birthday party for Sonny at a Hooters, and it’s revealed that his ex and her new boyfriend are now employed there.

*Hooters: The Movie* will be directed by Jon Rosenbaum, the creative mind behind such distinguished classics as *Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls* and *Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp*.

“From the moment I first learned the Hooters origin story, I knew it would make an incredible movie,” Rosenbaum said in a statement. “It’s the perfect combination of a hilarious buddy comedy and an inspiring biopic for a beloved American brand: Two lifelong friends with no idea what they’re getting themselves into, a crazy idea they’re willing to bet everything on, and a wild journey that culminates in the creation of something bigger than they could ever have imagined. It’s not at all what people will be expecting – and it’s mostly true! I can’t wait to bring this story to life.”

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*Hooters: The Movie* producer and Hooters co-founder Ed Droste added, “I think people are going to enjoy watching how we were really just some guys who didn’t know what we were doing, but had a great time doing it. There’s a lot of drama, but a lot of heart and fun too. And of course, our world-famous Hooters Girls are the real stars. For over 40 years Hooters has been America’s oasis in good times and bad. It’s time to deliver a taste of our big hearted culture and famous humor to the world.”

Well, as easy as it is to make jokes about this idea, *Hooters: The Movie* might get the last laugh, considering this was the response to the news that I got from my Hooters chicken-loving father: “It is a helluva story and could be interesting.”

There it is, *Hooters: The Movie*, destined to be the next entry in the dad movie hall of fame, joining the likes of *Saving Private Ryan* and *Field of Dreams*.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Movies”