Amazon MGM Studios has bought the Jason Statham-starring actioner “Levon’s Trade” for a theatrical launch. The movie is directed by David Ayer based mostly off a script written by Sylvester Stallone.
The movie was initially introduced in October 2023 and is predicated on the novel by famed comics writer Chuck Dixon. The movie follows Levon Cade (Statham), a reformed prison on the straight and slender. When his boss’s teenage daughter disappears, Cade is requested to make use of the abilities that made him a legend on this planet of black ops. He enters into the center of a deep prison conspiracy that threatens his and his daughter’s lives.
Taking pictures begins on the film in London this spring.
The movie comes two days after “Road House” director Doug Liman chastised the studio for giving his Jake Gyllenhaal-starring remake of the Patrick Swayze ’80s film a streaming-only launch (it can premiere at SXSW). In an op-ed to Deadline Liman mentioned, “Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using ‘Road House’ to sell plumbing fixtures.”
Liman argues that taking the movie straight to streaming hurts everybody concerned.
“That hurts the filmmakers and stars of Road House who don’t share in the upside of a hit movie on a streaming platform,” the director wrote. “And they deprive Jake Gyllenhaal — who gives a career-best performance — the opportunity to be recognized come award season.”
Since then Amazon MGM has emphasised theatrical releases, beginning with the announcement they’ve acquired the Chris Pratt-starring thriller “Mercy.” On Friday alone the studio introduced two further options, alongside “Levon’s Trade,” that can garner a theatrical launch: Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut “Blink Twice” and the Aubrey Plaza coming-of-age comedy “My Old Ass” (which the studio is remaining negotiations on).