Denzel Washington plays a dying ex-cop in Mission: Impossible director’s next film
Christopher McQuarrie has secured the lead for his next crime film — and it’s a very big name.
So, Denzel Washington fans have had a bit of a rollercoaster lately — and if you follow action cinema, this one’s worth keeping tabs on. Washington was lined up for a Hannibal Barca epic with Anton Fuqua for Netflix. Looked splashy on paper: big budget, ancient Carthage, one of the best living actors. But money talks, and Netflix walked away from what turned out to be a pricey gamble. Come June 2026, the whole project went on ice, and a month after, cinematographer Robert Richardson made it clear the thing was, and I quote, 'effectively dead.' Call that one buried with Hannibal's war elephants.
Robert Richardson described Hannibal as "effectively dead" after Netflix shelved the film.
Every cloud, silver lining: Washington's now free for a different headline-grabber. He's just signed on for an as-yet-untitled crime thriller at Amazon MGM, and it's not some streaming afterthought — this one's booked for a proper cinema release, backed by the same team that saved Bond's bacon in the pandemic era.
The New Denzel Thriller
Christopher McQuarrie — yes, the director-producer behind the last four Mission: Impossible films and The Final Reckoning — is running the show on this one. He's joined by writers Scott Barkan and Gregg Zehentner. If that lineup makes it sound like things will get kinetic, they've definitely earned the benefit of the doubt so far.
Plot-wise, Deadline's got the first real snapshot: Washington will play a former detective sentenced to life, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He's released under compassionate grounds with six months left, returns home to a daughter who wants nothing to do with him, and meets a grandson he didn't know existed. Of course, all he wants is one last shot at redemption, but — classic — his old life comes roaring back to complicate things. Proper crime flick DNA, not just another shootout-for-hire.
Amazon MGM and United Artists have picked a strategic date: 1 October 2027. There’s competition already: Warner Bros are dropping The Great Beyond the same weekend, a J.J. Abrams sci-fi number starring Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Merritt Wever, and Samuel L. Jackson. For trivia hounds, this was meant to be the weekend for The Batman — Part II, but that's shuffled off to February 2028.
The new Denzel Washington/McQuarrie project lands in UK cinemas 1 October 2027.
What Else Is Denzel Up To?
If you keep score on Washington's career moves: alongside McQuarrie's thriller, he's got Here Comes the Flood (another crime effort, Netflix-bound in 2027) on the slate. And he might — might — show up in Black Panther III, which, if Marvel's release calendar is to be trusted, is dropping 18 December 2028. Official word from the studio’s still missing, but Washington himself spilled in 2024 that Ryan Coogler was writing a role for him and that Black Panther III could be one of his final films before retirement. No one has confirmed if that's still in the cards, though.
Amazon MGM's Game Plan
This upcoming McQuarrie-Denzel collaboration is part of a broader Amazon MGM push for 2027: The Beekeeper 2, The Thomas Crown Affair, Jason Statham Stole My Bike — all aiming for that sweet spot between nostalgia and credible action cinema. After Masters of the Universe tanked at the box office, it looks like they’re going back to what the 90s and early 2000s did best: smart, mid-budget thrillers built for an audience that wants more than just CGI chaos fest.