When does 'By Any Means' come out? Everything we know about Mark Wahlberg's crime thriller

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg form an uneasy alliance in Paramount's 1960s-set crime thriller.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as FBI agent Wayne Strider in 'By Any Means' (Cover Image Source: Paramount)
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as FBI agent Wayne Strider in 'By Any Means' (Cover Image Source: Paramount)

Paramount's 'By Any Means' brings Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II into a case tied to the civil rights era. Abdul-Mateen plays a Black FBI agent, while Wahlberg portrays real-life Mafia hitman and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa. Their characters form an uneasy alliance while investigating the murders of civil rights leaders in Mississippi. The movie will reach US theaters on September 4, at the start of Labor Day weekend.

'By Any Means' will release exclusively in US theaters through Paramount Pictures. No streaming release has been announced yet. Paramount had acquired all US rights to the film, while north.five.six handles international sales. Available reports do not provide a release schedule for territories outside the United States

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as FBI agent Wayne Strider in 'By Any Means' (Image Source: Paramount)
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as FBI agent Wayne Strider in 'By Any Means' (Image Source: Paramount)

The crime thriller is set in 1966 and is loosely based on true events. Its story follows the partnership between a young FBI agent and a Mafia hitman as they search for those responsible for killing civil rights leaders. The investigation also exposes a conspiracy and forces both men to confront the limits of the law. 

The official logline states, "Inspired by a true story, a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. Forced to work alongside notorious mafia hitman Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg), he finds himself pulled into a deadly hunt where justice and vengeance begin to blur. When the system is broken, two men divided by everything agree on one thing: the law has limits. They don’t."

Elegance Bratton, the director, said in the April 10 statement, "This is a story about unlikely alliances forged under impossible circumstances — where justice is not clean, and the truth comes at a cost. I wanted to explore what it means to confront violence not just as an act, but as a system — and what it demands of those caught inside it."

The cast also includes Nicole Beharie, David Strathairn, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton, and LaChanze. Elegance Bratton directed the film from a screenplay by Sascha Penn, whose credits include 'Creed II' and 'Power Book III: Raising Kanan.' Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Alex Lebovici, Chester Algernon Gordon, Basil Iwanyk, and Erica Lee are among its producers.

Paramount has unveiled a final trailer highlighting the conflict between Strider's position as a federal agent and Scarpa's resort to violence and intimidation. The movie is rated R due to violence, graphic imagery, and strong language.

GET THE BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT STORIES
STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX.

MORE STORIES

The sequel to the 2011 motion capture adventure now has a finished script and a director
2026-10-19T07:16:32.000Z
The movie was first announced months after ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ closed the Skywalker saga
2026-10-19T04:56:20.000Z
‘You Can See Everything’ takes an unexpected turn after Elizabeth Holmes begins her prison sentence.
2026-10-17T16:42:01.000Z
Diablo Cody’s latest comments give ‘Jennifer’s Body’ fans a new reason to keep an eye on the sequel.
2026-10-17T14:59:25.000Z
Soderbergh will direct the last weeks of shooting on the DC sequel while Reeves stays off set
2026-10-17T04:14:54.000Z
‘Red Rising’ is a popular sci-fi dystopian franchise that has sold more than six million copies
2026-10-17T03:44:38.000Z
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim filmed Elizabeth Holmes for 34 days before she reported to a Texas prison
2026-10-16T08:41:10.000Z
Josh Brolin and Austin Abrams' survival thriller 'Whalefall' follows a diver trapped inside a giant whale
2026-10-16T05:09:43.000Z
In an exclusive sit-down, Cody Rhodes discusses playing Guile in ‘Street Fighter’ and praises Callina Liang’s performance as Chun-Li
2026-10-16T04:10:24.000Z
Rachel Weisz returns as Evie in the upcoming film for the first time since 2001, opposite Brendan Fraser
2026-10-16T03:52:38.000Z