They say that if you hit up a Waffle House late at night, you're liable to see all kinds of things and that seems to be the heart of the premise of The Waffle House Index, a new sci-fi film that's snagged Obsession breakout star Inde Navarrette.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the logline for the film reads, "The Waffle House Index is an informal barometer of a hurricane’s severity. The levels are based on how much service an area’s Waffle House, a chain that basically operates 24/7, is offering. Green means the restaurant is in full service mode and the damage isn’t severe; yellow means a limited menu, indicating low food supplies; and red is just bad news, a closed restaurant and a sign of unsafe conditions."
The synopsis continues, "Jane, a Waffle House waitress whose already bad day gets worse when a stranger with a gun shows up during her night shift. What happens after involves a mass flood, killer crocodiles, a nuclear explosion, a magical bunker under the Waffle House, and aliens."
The project comes from The Black List, which is an annual survey of Hollywood executives and producers who come together to compile a list of their favorite unproduced screenplays.
The Waffle House Index comes by way of the 2025 Black List and was written by Andrew Nunnelly (Doolittle). Louis Paxton (Incomer, Ladybaby) will direct.
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment is producing the film, which was just acquired by Apple Original Films.
The original Black List script was described as a really wild ride that increasingly turns up the sci-fi dial with each unpeeled layer of the film's progression. The rub is that the main character Jane, is severely depressed as she starts her graveyard shift, as her mom just died of cancer that morning before all the madness began.
Early script reviews pointed out an odd mismatch; Jane’s grounded, emotionally heavy storyline almost belongs in an indie drama, while absolute madness unfolds all around her.
Whether the director decides to lean into that weird contrast or iron out the kinks before production remains to be seen.
Navarette most recently signed on to play Rogue in Marvel Studios' upcoming X-Men reboot, and it's currently unknown if she will film The Waffle House Index first or begin her superhero career.
Also on the Superman & Lois alum's docket is Invertigo, which is described as a high-tension thriller about a group of teenagers trapped hundreds of feet in the air after a mechanical failure on a roller coaster.