Joe Carnahan will direct the feature, which STXInternational is launching in Toronto.
Gerard Butler is adding another action-thriller to his portfolio, this time for newly-relaunched distributor Open Road Films.
The Fallen franchise star is set to take the lead in Copshop alongside Frank Grillo, with Joe Carnahan (The Grey, The A-Team) set to direct. Open Road, which relaunched as a distributor earlier this year after being bought by private equity group Raven Capital Management from Donald Tang’s Tang Media Partners in late 2018, will release theatrically in the U.S. STXInternational will handle foreign distribution and release directly in the U.K. and Ireland.
Copshop sees a small-town police station becomes the unlikely battleground between a professional hitman (Butler), a smart rookie female cop, and a double-crossing con man (Grillo), who seeks refuge behind bars with no place left to run.
Principal photography is set to commence in October. The film will shoot in Georgia and New Mexico. STX will present the project to buyers virtually at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.
Kurt McLeod wrote the original screenplay based on a story by McLeod and Mark Williams. Carnahan penned the most recent draft. Mark Williams and Tai Duncan of Zero Gravity Management are producing the film alongside Warren Goz and Eric Gold of Sculptor Media, Butler and Alan Siegel’s G-BASE Productions, and Carnahan and Grillo through their WarParty Films production banner. Executive producers are James Masciello, Matthew Sidari and Tom Ortenberg for Open Road Films.
Raven Capital developed Copshop in partnership with Sculptor and Zero Gravity, and is fully financing the film. CAA Media Finance arranged the project’s financing and domestic distribution deal.
“I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Joe Carnahan for the fifth time and Frank Grillo has been a good luck charm for Open Road since its inception, having been featured in Joe’s film The Grey, End of Watch and Homefront,” said Ortenberg, the former Open Road head who returned to the helm after Raven’s relaunch. “Putting Joe and Frank together with one of the biggest action stars in the world in Gerard Butler in Joe’s exciting script for Cop Shop is a recipe for a big theatrical hit.”