War Party and XYZ Films to Team on Reimagining of Gareth Evans' THE RAID

WarParty and XYZ films have announced that they will partner on the reimagining of the hit Indonesian action film THE RAID, which Joe Carnahan will direct and write, and Frank Grillo will star. The film will be produced by WarParty and XYZ. Gareth Evans, the martial arts auteur who directed the original RAID film, will executive produce.

Premiering in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Indonesian martial-arts movie THE RAID (also known as THE RAID: REDEMPTION) secured unanimous critical praise, rocketing to cult film status across the world, and making stars out of the leads Iko Uwais (STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS) and Joe Taslim (FAST & FURIOUS 6). The movie captured audiences with its boundary-pushing, inventive choreography and a lightning-paced narrative where a lone, isolated SWAT team is trapped by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs inside a tenement block, and they have to fight through to the top.

Directed by Gareth Evans and produced by PT. Merantau Films and XYZ Films, the high-octane franchise has garnered great success since its release. The first film won the People's Choice Award in the Midnight Madness section of TIFF in 2011, had 10 nominations at the 2012 Maya Awards.

"I am extremely excited about Frank and I boarding this property and hopefully doing something fresh and inventive with it," says Joe Carnahan. "The original is masterful, so we've given ourselves a pretty big mountain to summit. But I have great faith in the story and approach to the material that we've taken."

"Joe and Frank are ideal creative partners for this film," XYZ added. "They want to pay homage to THE RAID, not do a paint-by-numbers remake."

Carnahan previously directed THE GREY, THE A-TEAM and SMOKIN' ACES and is currently in preproduction on the BAD BOYS sequel BAD BOYS FOR LIFE starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. He is one of the creative forces behind the making of the NBC hit THE BLACKLIST and recently completed the screenplay for the big budget adaptation of Sony's hit video game series UNCHARTED.

Having captivated audiences throughout the years, Frank Grillo continues his tour de force upon the big and small screen. Now fronting the hit Blumhouse franchise THE PURGE, the latest installment, Election Year, has taken in a global gross of $114.2 million, making it the most successful chapter yet. Prior to that he brought the villainous role of Brock Rumlow aka "Crossbones" to life in the wildly successful CAPTAIN AMERICA features for Marvel (with a 2 billion dollar global gross and counting) and has starred as the lead character 'Alvey Kulina' in the DirectTV series Kingdom for three seasons where he brings his real life boxing and martial arts expertise to the critically acclaimed performance. Frank has brought his trademark intensity and intellect to a wide variety of characters across features as diverse as WARRIOR, DISCONNECT, END OF WATCH, THE GREY, INTERSECTION, EDGE OF DARKNESS and ZERO DARK THIRTY. Next up for Frank will see the release of the Akiva Goldman-helmed STEPHANIE and Netflix's Wheelman.

WarParty is a newly launched production company helmed by producer/writer/director Joe Carnahan and acclaimed actor Frank Grillo. Formed in August 2016, it will look to option and develop material from all sources including books, magazines and screenplays under a first look agreement. The company is expected to produce between 3 - 5 films per year including titles with franchise potential with the first film expected to be available for sales by EFM 2017. First up for the shingle is Wheelman which was successfully launched and sold worldwide to Netflix at the Cannes Market 2016 and looks to launch later this year. The high-concept action thriller, currently in post-production, was written and directed by Jeremy Rush and stars Grillo in the title role.

XYZ Films is an integrated content company whose mission is to empower visionary storytellers from every corner of the planet. As an independent production company and worldwide sales agency, the company is uniquely suited to identify talented filmmakers and bring their stories to life. XYZ was founded in 2008 by Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian. Their current slate of projects includes APOSTLE, directed by Gareth Evans and starring Dan Stevens, Academy Award winner Anders Walters' feature debut I KILL GIANTS, which stars Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, and Madison Wolfe, as well as S.Craig Zahler's BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, which stars Vince Vaughn and Don Johnson. XYZ recently won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut for UNDER THE SHADOW, and the 2017 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Macon Blair's I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE.

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