After working together on the surprisingly good old school action movie The Beekeeper, director David Ayer and actor Jason Statham are set to reteam on another action project, Levon’s Trade. And this time they’ll be working from a screenplay that was written by Sylvester Stallone! (With some revisions by Ayer.) Levon’s Trade was announced a few months ago, and Deadline reports that it has just secured distribution through Amazon MGM. Amazon MGM will be giving the film a wide theatrical release in the U.S., while Prime Video takes streaming rights in a slew of major international territories. “Outside of the Prime Video international territories (where the film may go online only), producers Black Bear have sold the film independently to theatrical distributors in multiple overseas markets.”
Based on a novel by prolific comic book writer Chuck Dixon, Levon’s Trade will show us that Levon Cade (Statham) left his “profession” behind him to go ‘straight’ and work in construction. He wants to live a simple life and be a good father to his daughter. But when his boss’s teenage daughter Jenny vanishes, he’s called upon to re-employ the skills that made him a legendary figure in the shadowy world of black ops. His hunt for the missing college student takes him deep into the heart of a sinister criminal conspiracy creating a chain reaction that will threaten his new way of life.
If all goes well, this could turn out to be a new franchise for Statham, because there are currently twelve books in Dixon’s Levon Cade series.
Levon’s Trade is expected to start filming in London this spring. Ayer and Chris Long are producing for Cedar Park Entertainment, Statham is producing for Punch Palace Productions, and Stallone is producing for Balboa Productions, while John Friedberg does the same for Black Bear and Bill Block produces for BlockFilm.
Statham and Stallone have, of course, collaborated on the Expendables films, but back in 2013 Statham also starred in a movie called Homefront, which Gary Fleder directed from a screenplay by Stallone (based on a novel like Chuck Logan). I really enjoyed that movie and The Beekeeper, so I’m excited to see Levon’s Trade.
Are you interested in Levon’s Trade? Let us know what you think of this one, and the Amazon MGM distribution deal, by leaving a comment below.
