According to Variety, director Luc Besson (Lucy, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) has struck a deal between Lionsgate and his own EuropaCorp to co-produce Anna, his next action film. The Anna cast is set to include Oscar winner Helen Mirren (The Fate of the Furious), Luke Evans (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women), Cillian Murphy (Dunkirk) and newcomer Sasha Luss in the title role. Mirren previously played the mother of Evans’ character in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Anna will be an English-language action thriller, budgeted in the $30 million range. The film, based on an original idea and written by Besson, will start shooting next month.
“We are delighted to be reunited with Luc and his EuropaCorp team on another exciting, action-packed film featuring an A-list cast,” said Lionsgate MPG chairman Patrick Wachsberger and president of acquisitions and co-productions Jason Constantine. “Luc is a visionary filmmaker with whom we are proud to extend our longstanding relationship.”
After the disappointing returns on this summer’s mega-budget Valerian, EuropaCorp will continue focusing on making action thrillers and sci-fi films along the lines of Taken, Lucy, The Professional and The Fifth Element, but they will produce less of them and Besson will now have more oversight over each of them. The projects will carry a budget of about $25 to $35 million per film.
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