Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Dwayne Johnson and Beau Flynn have teamed up for Emergency Contact, an original action project that has landed at Warner Bros.
The studio preemptively picked up the pitch from writing team Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, with Abdul-Mateen attached to star and executive produce.
Flynn will produce via his FlynnPictureCo. with frequent producing partners Johnson, Hiram Garcia and Dany Garcia via the trio’s Seven Bucks Productions.
Details of the pitch are being kept hidden in a studio panic room, but Emergency is described as being a high-concept, high-octane action film set amid the underground music scene in Austin, Texas.
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The project reteams many of the players of Black Adam, the DC adventure movie currently in production at Warners arm New Line. Haines and Noshirvani wrote the current script for that movie, with Johnson toplining a cast of newcomers and vets, which is also being produced by Seven Bucks and FlynnPictureCo.
Scott Sheldon will executive produce Emergency as will Haines and Noshirvani. Chanel Bowling will oversee for FlynnPictureCo.
Haines and Noshirvani previously wrote The Mauritanian, the critically acclaimed legal drama that was a player during this past awards season and snagged BAFTA nominations for best film, outstanding British film, best actor in a leading role, best adapted screenplay and best cinematography. On the TV side, the duo created Informer, which starred Paddy Considine, for Amazon and BBC One.
For Abdul-Mateen, Emergency continues the actor’s Hollywood ascent. He has been on a hot streak since playing a key role in HBO’s acclaimed limited series Watchmen, for which he won an Emmy. He also garnered acclaim and awards buzz for portraying activist Bobby Seale in Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7. He has high-profile movies The Matrix 4 and Candyman due out later this year and will shoot George Miller’s latest Mad Max project, Furiosa. Abdul-Mateen has become a Warners favorite as not only are Matrix and Furiosa from the studio, but he also starred as the villain in the company’s Aquaman, a role he is reprising for Aquaman 2.
In addition to Black Adam, FlynnPictureCo. and Seven Bucks have several projects in the wings together. Their next release is Disney’s action-adventure movie Jungle Cruise, starring Johnson and Emily Blunt, due to open July 30. The two companies have also wrapped shooting Red Notice, an action tentpole starring Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot.
Separately, FlynnPictureCo. is gearing up for the sci-fi feature Stillwater, with Craig Zobel, the director of HBO’s buzzy Mare of Easttown, and developing an adaptation of Hello Kitty for New Line. The company recently launched their first hit scripted podcast for iHeart Media, Tomorrow’s Monsters, starring John Boyega and Darren Criss.
Seven Bucks is one of the town’s busier banners working in both film and television, live-action and animation. The company has Young Rock, a comedy coming off its first season on NBC that is in the Emmy conversation and one of the few shows to feature Pacific Islanders in predominant ways.
Haines and Noshirvani are repped by CAA, Grandview and Jackoway Austen. Abdul-Mateen is repped by WME, M88 and Ziffren Brittenham.
