After years spent indulging in franchise films like Rambo and Rocky (and, by extension, Creed), Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone is entering uncharted waters for his next film, Samaritan.
It’s a totally original idea from the mind of Bragi F. Schut, the screenwriter behind Escape Plan (another Sly joint), and centers on a “young boy who is out to discover if a mythic superhero, who vanished 20 years earlier following a tragic event, is still alive.” It is, without question, a refreshing change of pace for Stallone, particularly after Last Blood finished the Rambo saga not with a bang, but a whimper.
Also starring Martin Starr, Moises Arias, Dascha Polanco and Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones), Samaritan was once headed for a release in November of 2020, but Stallone and his team needed more time to dot the Is and cross the Ts, and so the MGM thriller was pushed back by three whole weeks.
That means filming continues on the Samaritan set, and Stallone took to Instagram earlier this week to prove it:
The Rocky Balboa actor has certainly endured his fair share of (fake) black eyes over the course of his career. And while it’s unclear who, exactly, Stallone will be playing, we have a sneaking suspicion that he’s the titular Samaritan – a roguish hero who has spent the last 20 years off the radar. Sounds like another action franchise with Sylvester Stallone’s name on the masthead…
Originally scheduled for the pre-Thanksgiving window of November 20th, Samaritan has since relocated to December 11th, placing it in the same ballpark as West Side Story, Coming to America 2, and Legendary’s long-anticipated Dune movie, the latter of which will be directed by Denis Villeneuve.