EXCLUSIVE: Showtime and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment have acquired U.S. distribution rights to the Tarik Saleh directed action movie The Contractor starring Hell or High Water stars Chris Pine and Ben Foster.
Following a similar collaboration on the comedy Queenpins, which STX sold to Paramount+ and Showtime for $20M as Deadline first reported, this deal will see The Contractor released in a limited number of theaters in the U.S. by Paramount with a simultaneous PVOD release across platforms. The film will arrive on Showtime and Paramount+ later in 2022. It was announced yesterday at the ViacomCBS Investor day that Paramount+ will be integrating Showtime content this summer with an in-app upgrade to the pay-TV channel’s programming.
Pine stars as Special Forces Sergeant James Harper in The Contractor, a guy who is involuntarily discharged from the Army and cut off from his pension. In debt, out of options and desperate to provide for his family, Harper contracts with a private underground military force. When the very first assignment goes awry, the elite soldier finds himself caught in a dangerous conspiracy and on the run for his life.
Gillian Jacobs, Kiefer Sutherland, Eddie Marsan, Fares Fares, Nina Hoss, and Amira Casar also star in the J.P. Davis penned movie.
Thunder Road Film’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee (John Wick franchise, Greenland, Sicario) produced with 30WEST having fully financed the film. 30WEST’s Dan Friedkin, Micah Green, and Dan Steinman are executive producing along with Pine, Jonathan Fuhrman, Tom Lassally, and Josh Bratman. Esther Hornstein of Thunder Road Films is executive producing.
“We are very excited to bring this exceptional film to audiences through multiple platforms so fans can experience it in theaters or at home,” said Kent Sevener, EVP, Content Acquisition, Showtime Networks Inc.. “With superb filmmaking talent and an outstanding cast, The Contractor delivers a thrilling cinematic experience with an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat story.”
STXfilms Motion Picture Group Chairman Adam Fogelson added, “We are thrilled to be collaborating once again with the amazing team at Paramount, following our successful collaboration on Queenpins, and our partners at Showtime. This was an irresistible deal and opportunity for us and our filmmaking partners and will be a win-win for consumers as the film is made available to the biggest audience possible.”
STX first landed U.S. rights to the movie, then titled Violence of Action, back in February 2021.
