Gerard Butler & Hayley Atwell Star in 2025’s Biggest Hits, Set for New Thriller!

Both actors have recently starred in two of the year’s biggest film hits: Gerard Butler (Dragons, which grossed over $635 million internationally) and Hayley Atwell (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which amassed nearly $600 million globally). They will soon share the screen in the thriller “Empire City,” directed by Michael Matthews (Love & Monsters) from a screenplay co-written by Brian Tucker and S. Craig Zahler. The film will be produced by Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, and Marc Butan.

“Empire City” takes place during a hostage situation in New York’s famous Clybourn Building. Rhett (played by Butler), a firefighter, along with his team and his wife Dani (Atwell), a NYPD officer, will attempt to enter the building to rescue the hostages.

This marks the first on-screen collaboration between the two actors. Hayley Atwell has just finished filming “Avengers: Doomsday,” where she returns as Agent Carter. The movie is set to release on December 16, 2026.

Meanwhile, Gerard Butler is expected to appear next in “Greenland 2: Migration” on January 14, a sequel to Ric Roman Waugh’s post-apocalyptic film. He will then revisit his role as a police officer in “Criminal Squad 3” before returning to his role in the live-action sequel of DreamWorks’ Dragons. Butler will also continue his role as Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent, in “Night has Fallen,” the fourth installment of the “Fallen” series directed by his frequent collaborator Ric Roman Waugh.

Among these sequels, “Empire City” is one of the few original projects for the Scottish actor, along with “In The Hand of Dante” by Julian Schnabel. As of now, no release date or distributor has been announced for this thriller.