Arnold Schwarzenegger is reportedly returning to the big screen after a four-year hiatus, with action-thriller film Breakout. Scott Waugh (The Expendables 4) is attached to direct the film, marking the first ‘big-budget project’ for the star since 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate. Scheduled to begin filming in Eastern Europe this year, Breakout sees Schwarzenegger in the lead role of Terry Reynolds, who is forced to attempt a daring jailbreak when his son is framed and sentenced to 25 years in a maximum security prison in a foreign country. Richard D’Ovidio (The Last Frontier) wrote the screenplay, based on a story he co-created with Nicole D’Ovidio.
“We are proud to be on board to make Scott’s vision come alive with the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead. This is the perfect fit for Anton’s slate to continue delivering high-quality entertainment on a big scale to the global market,” Sébastien Raybaud, CEO of Anton (production company) said in a prepared statement (via Deadline). Schwarzenegger previously stepped away from acting to pursue a political career — even serving as the governor of California — before returning with The Expendables franchise of films, as a main cast member. Unfortunately, he won’t be seen in the upcoming The Expendables 4, despite collaborating with its director on the aforementioned Breakout.
Production company Anton will present plans for Breakout at the Marche du Film (Cannes Film Market), which is being held in tandem with the Cannes Film Festival in May. Currently, there is no word on the production budget, though Deadline mentions that Off the Pier Productions, Cindy Cowan Entertainment, and Almost Never Films are helping develop the project — the latter recently produced the independent horror flick Barbarian
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger is gearing up for his TV debut as a lead actor with Netflix’s Fubar, an action-comedy series by way of his early-day spy-comedy True Lies. The eight-episode series is set to release on May 25 and follows a CIA operative, who comes to learn that his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) has been living undercover as an agent for years as well, leading to a high-stakes father-daughter clash that has global and familial complications. Nick Santora (The Sopranos) is the creator and showrunner for the same.
Schwarzenegger’s Breakout currently does not have a release window or a fixed cast lineup.
