The movie adaptation of Isabelle Ronin’s young adult romance “Chasing Red,” which became a major hit on the Wattpad platform, is taking shape.
Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale, The Strangers) and Gavin Casalegno (The Summer I Turned Pretty) have scored the lead role in the project.
Mackenzie Munro directs the adaptation from a screenplay by Lauren Schacher (“Hooking Up”).
Munro directed Wattpad’s first independently financed romantic comedy feature based on its popular story “Boot Camp.”
“Chasing Red” follows straight-A student Veronica (Petsch), who refuses to be college heartthrob Caleb’s (Casalegno) next “conquest,” even after a chance encounter sparks an undeniable attraction between them.
On the run from a painful past and with nowhere to go, Veronica ends up under Caleb’s roof.
As their chemistry turns electric and secrets unravel, love and betrayal collide in this addictive, slow-burn romance.
The adaptation is produced by Greg Silverman and Grant Torre of Stampede Ventures (“Motor City”) and David Madden and Jason Goldberg of Webtoon Productions (the “After” franchise).
Principal photography is due to kick off in early 2026 in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla region.
Wattpad is the publisher of the “After” romance series, which went on to make $168M at the global box office.
“Chasing Red” is Wattpad’s 2nd most popular English-language title, with 261 million reads online.
It has already been adapted into a hit Webtoon webcomic with 24 million views, and published as a print novel from Sourcebooks and a graphic novel from Webtoon Unscrolled.
Mister Smith Entertainment (MSE) are handling international sales and has completed a raft of deals with Amazon’s Prime Video in the U.K., Canada, Australia/New Zealand, France and Benelux.
Other territory sales include Capelight in Germany; Leone Film Group in Italy; Sun/Diamond in Latin America, Spain, Portugal and South Africa; Svensk in Scandinavia; Front Row Filmed Entertainment in the Middle East; Ascot Elite in Switzerland; Monolith in Poland; Vertical Distribution in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria; AQS in Czech Republic and Slovakia; Blitz Film in Ex-Yugoslavia; Green Light Films in Ukraine; United King in Israel; The Film Group in Greece; TME in Turkey; and Star Entertainment in India.
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