The Killer's Game

Based onThe Killer's Game
by Jay BonansingaProduced byStarringCinematographyFlavio Martínez LabianoEdited byElísabet RonaldsdóttirMusic byRoque BañosDistributed byLionsgate104 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$30 million^[1]Box office$2.6 million^[2][3]

The Killer's Game is a 2024 American action comedy film directed by J. J. Perry and written by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Jay Bonansinga. The film stars Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Pom Klementieff, and Ben Kingsley.

The Killer's Game was released in the United States by Lionsgate on September 13, 2024.

When super-assassin Joe Flood finds out that he is suffering from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, he and his boss/mentor Zvi set up a lucrative contract for another assassin who hates him to end his life without warning. This will preempt the long, debiliating and painful death that Joe's illness has in store for him. However, Joe ends up not only finding out that a mixed-up lab report means he's actually perfectly healthy, but that his hitwoman doesn't care and is planning to murder him anyway. And an eclectic mix of other seasoned killers-for-hire complicates matters when they want to take out the initial assassin and get the huge contract windfall awaiting Joe's killer for themselves.

• Dave Bautista as Joe Flood, a veteran assassin
• Sofia Boutella as Maize, Joe's girlfriend
• Terry Crews as Lovedahl, a hitman after Joe
• Scott Adkins as Angus Mackenzie
• Marko Zaror as Botas
• Pom Klementieff as Marianna Antoinette, a mysterious woman who has put a hit out on Joe.
• Ben Kingsley as Zvi, Joe's mentor
• Alex Kingston as Sharon
• Drew Galloway as Rory Mackenzie
• Shaina West
• Lucy Cork
• Daniel Bernhardt as Radovan
• Lee Hoon as Goyang, a hitman hired by Marianna to kill Joe
• Raffaello Degruttola as Dr. Kagen, a doctor who initially diagnoses Joe with a terminal illness

Originally titled Godforsaken, Rand Ravich wrote his adaptation of Jay Bonansinga's novel, The Killer's Game, on spec in the mid-1990s and sold his draft to New Line Cinema in December 1995.^[4][5] Intermedia would produce the film,^[6] with Rupert Wainwright attached to direct. Wesley Snipes was courted to star by July 2002. Production was expected to begin that fall.^[7] A month later, talks began with Mike van Diem to direct.^[8] New Line offered the film to a wide array of directors, including John Woo, Wolfgang Petersen, Alex Proyas, and Renny Harlin, but failed to attract any to sign on.

In August 2004, rights transitioned to Paramount Pictures; Intermedia and Andrew Lazar were attached to produce while Simon Kinberg handled rewrites.^[9] Michael Keaton was at one point attached to star, while Simon Crane and Pitof were considered to direct.^[10] Development came to a standstill in 2006 when Intermedia closed down.^[11]

By December 2015, Broad Green Pictures was in talks to acquire the rights.^[12] Come February 2018, STXfilms took over, hiring D.J. Caruso to direct and Jason Statham to lead.^[10] By April 2019, Statham exited and was replaced by Dave Bautista.^[13] Ice Cube joined the cast in June 2019.^[11] In September, Morena Baccarin and Kris Wu joined the cast. Caruso and Peter Landesman rewrote the script ahead of a planned production start of December 2, 2019 in the Dominican Republic.^[14][15]

Development quietly halted again until May 2023 when distribution rights shifted to Lionsgate, with J.J. Perry directing, and James Coyne to rewrite the script. The cast retained Bautista and Ice Cube, and added Sofia Boutella and Ben Kingsley.^[16][17] In July, Pom Klementieff, Scott Adkins, Drew McIntyre and Marko Zaror were among new additions to the cast.^[18][19] In March 2024, it was announced Terry Crews was to star, having replaced Cube.^[20]

Principal photography began in July 2023 in Budapest,^[21] having been granted an interim agreement waiver to proceed amid the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.^[22]

Final writing credits were submitted in November 2023; screenplay credit was given to Ravich and Coyne and the offscreen additional literary material credit was attributed to Caruso, Nick Cassavetes, John Joseph Connolly, Michael Dowse, Cory Goodman, Kinberg, Landesman, Brian Rudnick, and Kurt Wimmer.^[23]

The Killer's Game was released in the United States and Canada on September 13, 2024.^[24]

In the United States and Canada, The Killer's Game was released alongside Speak No Evil and Am I Racist?, and was projected to gross around $5 million from 2,623 theaters in its opening weekend.^[25] The film made $1.06 million on its first day, including $300,000 from Thursday night previews.^[26] It went on to debut to $2.6 million, finishing in seventh.^[1]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 33% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10.^[27] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.^[28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 63% overall positive score, with 45% saying they would definitely recommend it.^[1]

• Official website
• The Killer's Game at IMDb