Arnold Schwarzenegger Set For Movie Return In Action Pic ‘Breakout’ From ‘Expendables’ 4 Director; Anton Launching For Cannes Market
By Andreas Wiseman, Melanie Goodfellow
Arnold Schwarzenegger
John Russo/Getty Images
EXCLUSIVE: He’ll be back. Silver-screen icon Arnold Schwarzenegger is set for a movie comeback after a four-year hiatus with action-thriller Breakout, which financier and sales firm Anton is launching ahead of the Cannes market.
The Expendables 4 filmmaker Scott Waugh is aboard to direct the feature, which will see Arnie take on the lead role of Terry Reynolds. When his stepson is framed and sentenced to 25 years in a foreign country, Reynolds makes a daring jailbreak to save him and must overcome an overzealous prison warden in a race against time to avoid capture and flee the country.
The shoot is due to kick off this year in Eastern Europe. Breakout is being financed and produced by Greenland outfit Anton and Off the Pier Productions (Canary Black). Anton is handling world sales, with UTA Independent Film Group co-repping domestic rights.
Richard D’Ovidio wrote the screenplay based on a story he co-created with Nicole D’Ovidio. Richard D’Ovidio is writing for the Apple original series The Last Frontier, which he co-created. He also penned the screenplay for thriller The Call starring Halle Berry.
The “big-budget project” marks a movie return for screen legend Schwarzenegger following 2019′ film’s Terminator: Dark Fate. Upcoming, he has Netflix series Fubar, which is set to premiere next month. Kung Fury 2 remains in post-production, having shot in 2019, and long-gestating sequel Triplets remains in the works but was delayed last year following the death of director Ivan Reitman.
Producing are Sebastien Raybaud and John Zois from Anton, Jeff Elliott and Chad Moore from Off the Pier Productions, Oscar nominee Cindy Cowan from Cindy Cowan Entertainment (Very Bad Things), Carsten Lorenz (Independence Day), and Danny Chan from Almost Never Films (Barbarian). Steve Ponce is executive producing. Off the Pier Productions and Cindy Cowan Entertainment developed and packaged the project.
Waugh is coming off the fourth installment of hit franchise The Expendables and is known for action movies including Act of Valor and DreamWorks’ Need For Speed.
Anton’s Raybaud said: “We are proud to be on board to make Scott’s vision come alive with the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead. This is the perfect fit for Anton’s slate to continue delivering high-quality entertainment with big scale to the global market.”
Elliott added: “We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Scott, fresh off the much-anticipated Expendables 4, which is going to be huge. Pair that with Arnold, arguably the greatest action star in the history of film, and this is going to be a very fun ride for audiences all over the world.”
Schwarzenegger is repped by UTA and Patrick Knapp of GGSSC. Richard D’Ovidio is repped by Chris Davey and Geyer Kosinski of Media Talent Group and Rob Goldman of McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Off the Pier Productions is repped by Anwen Griffiths of Lee and Thompson.
