Sometimes it only takes a few years for a movie to go from just an idea to a full-blown reality, and other times it takes a lot longer for that transition to happen. One movies that's spent years in development hell is the drug thriller Triple Frontier, which has gone through numerous directors and actors. However, it finally looks like this movie is finally on track to be released, only it will be on Netflix, and Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac are expected to lead it.
While this movie is no longer being called Triple Frontier, the news dropped today that it is now in pre-production at Netflix (which has been in the original movies business since 2015), and that Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac are in negotiations to star in the movie. Affleck was previously reported to be in consideration for the project last year, although he would have starred alongside his brother, Casey Affleck. At the time, those two were being eyed to replace departing leads Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum. According to THR, when the movie was moved to Netflix, Affleck dropped out, and Mark Wahlberg was brought in as his replacement. However, now it appears that the man playing currently playing Batman is back on board, and if a deal is reached, he'll be acting alongside Isaac, one of the main stars of the current Star Wars trilogy.
Along with Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac's potential involvement, the movie formerly known as Triple Frontier has added King Arthur: Legend of the Sword's Charlie Hunnam, Tron: Legacy's Garrett Hedlund, Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal and Emerald City's Adria Arjona have been added to the cast. Hunan, Hedlund and Pascal were previously expected to star alongside Mark Wahlberg when he was attached, and evidently they're still sticking around with the changed leading lineup. J.C. Chandor of A Most Violent Year fame is still attached to direct. Triple Frontier refers to the notorious border zone between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, and with Chandor having re-written the script that was originally penned by Mark Boal, the movie's story will now follow five friends whose loyalties are tested when they join forces to bring down a South American drug lord, which unleashes a chain of unintended consequences.
After more than a decade of being in development as a traditional theatrical release, it's good to see that this J.C. Chandos-Helmed drug thriller has finally found a home at Netflix. However, even with this solid lineup of talent, I can't help but worry what this might mean for the movie's quality. One of Netflix's recent cinematic releases, The Cloverfield Paradox, was originally intended to be theatrically released by Paramount, but the studio sold it to the streaming service for reportedly $50 million, and the movie ended up earning numerous negative reviews. Fingers crossed that this isn't what happens with Chandor's movie.
The formerly-titled Triple Frontier doesn't have an assigned release date yet, but it will begin filming on March 26. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how the movie is progressing, and don't forget to check out our 2018 Netflix release guide to see what else the streaming platform is putting out this year.
