Hayley Atwell Joins Gerard Butler In Action Thriller EMPIRE CITY

Hayley Atwell ("Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning", "Captain America: The First Avenger") is set to star alongside Gerard Butler in the upcoming hostage crisis action thriller "Empire City". The film is directed by Michael Matthews ("Love & Monsters", "Nautilus") from a script by Brian Tucker ("Broken City") and S. Craig Zahler ("Bone Tomahawk"), and will begin filming this month.

The story focuses on a hostage crisis that erupts inside New York's landmark Clybourn Building. Firefighter Rhett (Butler), his squad, and his NYPD wife Dani (Atwell) must fight and navigate their way through the building to rescue the captives.

Butler and his G-BASE partner Alan Siegel produce the film alongside Marc Butan ("Plane") from MadRiver Pictures, and Paul Currie. Leonine Studios co-financed development, and Leonine's Quirin Berg and Alexander Janssen will executive-produce.

The Veterans represent international and CAA Media Finance is handling domestic rights. Sales will continue at next week's American Film Market.

The film is financed under MadRiver's multi-year equity financing and distribution deal with international distributors including DeAPlaneta (Spain), Eagle Pictures (Italy), IDC Distribution (Latin America), Leonine Studios (Germany and Austria), The Searchers (Benelux), Shochiku (Japan), SND (France) and Unicorn Media (Eastern Europe), who will each handle distribution in their respective territories. The pact's first film "Mutiny", starring Jason Statham, will be released by Lionsgate next year.

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