Netflix making film about grandma who accidentally invited stranger to Thanksgiving

A man who went viral for accidentally being invited to a family’s Thanksgiving dinner celebrated the holiday with them for the sixth year in a row - and the heartwarming story is to be made into a Netflix film.

The film aptly titled The Thanksgiving Text already has Abdul Williams on board (Salt-N-Pepa, The Bobby Brown Story) writing the screenplay, but a director and cast have not yet been confirmed, Deadline reported.

Producers on the upcoming film include Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr. for State Street Pictures, a company whose slate includes The Hate U Give, The Barbershop Franchise and Men of Honor. Lawrence Mott is set to executive produce the movie.

The unlikely friendship began when 22-year-old Jamal Hinton, from Arizona, US received a text from an unknown number in 2016, inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner.

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The text from 64-year-old grandmother, Wanda Dench, who thought she had messaged her grandson but he had changed his number, so the text was received by Hinton instead.

To clear up the confusion, the pair sent selfies to each other in order to see who they were texting.

Hinton then jokingly asked: “Can I still get a plate tho?” to which Dench was more than happy to welcome him for dinner, and replied: “Of course you can. That’s what grandma’s do … Feed everyone.”

And rest is history as a Thanksgiving tradition was born with Hinton joining Dench and her family every year for the past six years.

The feel-good story has posted updates about their friendship over the years, causing an influx of followers, Hinton with 132,000 Twitter and Dench

Hinton’s most recent Thanksgiving post exploded with over 1.2m as he informed his followers: “We are all set for year 6!”

Following the announcement that their story is going to be turned into a film, Dench and Hinton have shared their excitement for the project.

“We are excited to share our story with the world. We hope it inspires more people to reach out and make connections that they wouldn’t ordinarily make,” they both said in a joint statement.

“We are so blessed to find a genuine friendship brought together by God from a mistaken text message.”

A release date for The Thanksgiving Text has not been confirmed.