More than a decade after turning The Fault in Our Stars into a box office success, director Josh Boone is returning to the young adult romance genre. Sony Pictures and Will Gluck’s Olive Bridge Entertainment have tapped Boone to direct Fake Skating, an adaptation of Lynn Painter’s New York Times bestselling novel, with the film scheduled for release on July 16, 2027. Painter later confirmed the announcement on social media.
Fake Skating follows Dani Collins and Alec Barczewski, childhood friends who lose touch after Dani’s family moves away. Years later, following her parents’ divorce, Dani returns to her small Minnesota hometown to live with her grandfather, a former NHL hockey legend, only to discover that the once-awkward Alec has become the town’s star hockey player.
After an uncomfortable reunion and a misunderstanding, the pair agree to a fake relationship. Alec hopes it will improve his image with visiting NHL scouts, while Dani wants his help securing a position as the team’s manager to strengthen her college prospects. As their arrangement begins to blur into something genuine, old feelings and unresolved wounds resurface. The film marks the first of Painter’s novels to receive a screen adaptation.
The screenplay was written by Morgan Lehmann and Victoria Bata, with Boone and his longtime collaborator Knate Lee later revising the script.
Will Gluck and Jacqueline Monetta are producing the film, with Madison Jones serving as executive producer on behalf of Olive Bridge Entertainment. Painter is also attached as an executive producer.
Sony first began developing the project in March and has since fast-tracked its production, officially greenlighting the film last week despite not yet announcing a cast. According to industry reports, the studio sees an opportunity in next summer’s release calendar, where there are currently few major theatrical releases targeting young female audiences. The strategy echoes the release of The Fault in Our Stars, which successfully carved out its own audience despite opening alongside much larger studio blockbusters.
The July 16, 2027 release date places Fake Skating between Warner Bros.’ Man of Tomorrow and the sequel to A Minecraft Movie, positioning it within one of the summer’s busiest theatrical corridors.
Painter is the No. 1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of novels including Better Than the Movies, The Do-Over, Betting on You, Mr. Wrong Number, The Love Wager and Nothing Like the Movies. Fake Skating won the 2025 Goodreads Choice Award, has sold more than 200,000 copies, remained on the New York Times YA Hardcover Best Seller list every week since its release in September 2025, and held the No. 1 position for 15 weeks. The novel has also been translated into 16 languages.
Boone most recently directed Regretting You, based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel and starring Mckenna Grace and Mason Thames. He is perhaps best known for directing the 2014 adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars, one of the most commercially successful young adult book-to-film adaptations of the past decade.
The project also continues Sony’s investment in literary adaptations. Recent releases include It Ends With Us, which grossed more than $350 million worldwide, Little Women, which earned over $200 million, and Where the Crawdads Sing, which collected $144 million globally. The studio also has Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, starring Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, in development.
With an experienced creative team, a fast-tracked production schedule and one of young adult fiction’s most successful recent novels as its source material, Fake Skating is shaping up to become another high-profile literary adaptation for Sony. The film also marks Boone’s return to the genre that helped define his career, while bringing Painter’s bestselling hockey romance to the big screen for the first time.
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