Sam Worthington has signed on to relive his days shooting “Avatar” for a new action film entitled “Thunder Run”, which will see him starring opposite Gerard Butler and Matthew McConaughey using the same motion-capture technology utilized in James Cameron’s Oscar-winning 2009 blockbuster. The all-CG film, which will also be released in 3-D, is being directed by Simon West (“The Mechanic”, “When a Stranger Calls”, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”) from a script by Ken Nolan (“Black Hawk Down”) and Robert Port (previously a writer on the now-defunct CBS series “Numb3rs”).
“Thunder Run” is based on the non-fiction book “Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad” by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Zucchino, which gives an in-depth look at the brutally quick capture of Baghdad by American forces in April 2003.
“We are very excited to have attracted this outstanding level of acting and writing talent,” said producer Brian Presley in a statement. “‘Thunder Run” will be the first ever conventional war film made to utilize this revolutionary facial and motion capture technology and state of the art CG and 3D. Simon and I have developed this project over the last five years so it will be nice to see it come alive.”
“Thunder Run” is military slang for a fast, intense offensive of the sort seen during the capture of Baghdad.
West is currently shooting “The Expendables 2”, due for release on August 17th, 2012.