Hot off the heals of the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, news broke that Dave Bautista will star in a Lionsgate adaptation of Jay Bonansinga‘s novel The Killer’s Game.
Lionsgate has picked up the worldwide rights to the The Killer’s Game with Bautista to star and Day Shift director JJ Perry to direct the film. The studio will shop the film at the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off May 16, 2023.
The Killer’s Game…Informed by his doctor that he has merely a few months to live, Joe Flood, a hit man who prides himself on killing only those who deserve to die, puts out an open contract on his own life, but he soon discovers that the lab made a mistake and that he is in perfect health.
The film was written by Rand Ravich and Simon Kingbird (X-Men) with recent rewrites coming from James Coyne. Andrew Lazar of Mad Chance is set to produce the film along with Endurance Media’s Steve Richards and Kia Jam. Endurance Media is financing the film. In addition to starring in the film, Bautista will executive produce alongside Jonathan Meinser for Dogbone Entertainment. Scott Lambert, Jake Katofsky and Venessa Humphrey will co-produce.
“I am over the moon that this book is finally going to the screen! I love Dave Bautista, I love J.J. Perry, and I especially love the producer and faithful shepherd of this project, Andrew Lazar,” said Jay Bonansinga. “This film has been in development since before my 24-year old son was born, and Andrew never wavered, never gave up, never stopped believing in it! Hat’s off to Andrew!”
Bonansinga is a New York Times bestselling author with numerous books to his name. The Capes and Tights Podcast discussed his work on The Walking Dead series of novels as well as his work on Stan Lee’s The Devil’s Quintet: The Armageddon Code and The Shadow Society on Episode 93.
