Hayley Atwell to team with Gerard Butler in action-thriller

Mission: Impossible and Captain America star Hayley Atwell is set to share the screen with action icon Gerard Butler in the upcoming thriller Empire City, which officially begins filming this month.

Directed by Michael Matthews of Love & Monsters fame, the film follows a deadly hostage crisis inside New York’s Clybourn Building. 

Butler stars as firefighter Rhett, who, alongside his NYPD wife Dani, played by Atwell, must navigate chaos and danger to rescue those trapped inside.

The high-stakes project comes from a script penned by Brian Tucker and S. Craig Zahler and reunites Butler with producer Alan Siegel and Plane collaborator Marc Butan from MadRiver Pictures. 

Paul Currie also joins the producing team, with Leonine Studios co-financing development.

Empire City is being sold internationally by The Veterans and handled domestically by CAA Media Finance. 

The film is part of MadRiver’s multi-year distribution pact with major global players, including DeAPlaneta, Eagle Pictures, and Shochiku.

The action-packed production promises an intense mix of emotion and adrenaline, as Butler and Atwell bring star power to what’s shaping up to be one of 2025’s biggest thrillers.

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