New Netflix movie will tell viral story of grandmother who accidentally invited a stranger to Thanksgiving dinner

The Thanksgiving Text
(Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix is bringing a viral tweet that charmed the internet to the small screen – a heartwarming Thanksgiving misunderstanding is being made into a movie by the streamer, Variety reports.

The movie will follow the real-life story of Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton, which went viral on Twitter in 2016, when Arizona grandmother Dench thought she was texting her grandson to check if he was coming to Thanksgiving dinner. However, she soon discovered she had the wrong number and had actually texted high school senior Hinton – he accepted the invitation anyway, and they've celebrated the holiday together ever since.

The movie doesn't have a confirmed director or cast yet, but the script will be written by Abdul Williams. 

"We are excited to share our story with the world," Dench and Hinton said in a joint statement. "We hope it inspires more people to reach out and make connections that they wouldn’t ordinarily make.  We are so blessed to find a genuine friendship brought together by God from a mistaken text message."

The pair have taken to Twitter every year since 2016 to share their annual reunions, with Hinton's girlfriend and family now being invited along.

This isn't the first time a tweet has been turned into a feature film – Zola, which was released last year and starred Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, and Nicholas Braun, was based on a viral Twitter thread from 2015.

The Thanksgiving Text doesn't have a release date yet, but we can assume it will arrive on the streamer sometime around Turkey Day. In the meantime, fill out your watch list with our picks of the best Netflix movies that you can watch right now.

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.