Liongate’s new thriller Wild Card, directed by Simon West (Con Air) and starring Jason Statham (The Transporter), has been locked in to premiere on January 30 to kick off Super Bowl Weekend. Statham will portray Nick Wild, a recovering gambling addict and Las Vegas bodyguard who ends up on the wrong side of the mob.
The movie is based on the novel Heat by William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), who also wrote the screenplay, and also stars Michael Angarano (Red State) and Milo Ventimiglia (Rocky Balboa), with appearances from Hope Davis (About Schmidt), Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games), Sofia Vergara (TV’s Modern Family), Anne Heche (The Other Guys), and Jason Alexander (TV’s Seinfeld).
Wild Card will have to compete with the Michael Bay-produced thriller Project Almanac that weekend. With Statham’s already entrenched fanbase as a factor, however, the film most likely has little to deter it at the box office.
Looking ahead, Statham will appear as the villain in Furious 7, as well as in Paul Feig’s comedy Spy starring Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids). Lionsgate has several other thrillers in the works for 2015, including the Point Break remake, Criminal starring Kevin Costner (Draft Day) and Ryan Reynolds (The Green Lantern), and Child 44 starring Tom Hardy.
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