Previously set for a December 2 release, Relativity Studios has pushed the release date of its Halle Berry thriller “Kidnap” to a March 10, 2017 premiere.
A project that’s been “on the shelf” since 2014, it was acquired by Relativity Studios in the fall of that year, but its release has been uncertain since the studio’s parent company (Relativity Media) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the summer of 2015 after facing a number of lawsuits and missing loan payments. The company would eventually emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March of this year, although its future is still not entirely certain as a A Chapter 7 (liquidation) might be filed before year’s end, as other studios, like Lionsgate, have expressed interest in the company’s 40-plus title library.
Described as a heart-stopping action thriller, “Kidnap” follows a mother (Berry) who will stop at nothing to rescue her kidnapped son (unlike in “The call” in which she played a 911 operator who takes it upon herself to track down a kidnapped girl).
Berry also executive produces the project with her production partner, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, via their 606 Films company, which she launched in early 2014 to produce what she described as “socially conscious” work, in the spirit of the company’s name (after the anti-paparazzi bill that Berry pushed, which California Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law the same year).
Spanish filmmaker Luis Prieto (“Pusher”) directed the film, from a script penned by Knate Gwaltney.
Di Bonaventura Pictures is producer. Lotus Entertainment and Gold Star Films financed the film, as well as exec produced.
A first trailer for “Kidnap” was released over the summer; check it out below if you missed it:
