Fan-favorite MCU star teams up with Gerard Butler for new action thriller — here’s what to expect

The new movie, 'Empire City', will revolve around a hostage crisis that erupts inside a landmark New York building
PUBLISHED NOV 7, 2025
Gerard Butler attends the Screening Of Netflix's 'The Angel' at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on September 13, 2018. (Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Greg Doherty)
Gerard Butler attends the Screening Of Netflix's 'The Angel' at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on September 13, 2018. (Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Greg Doherty)

Gerard Butler is teaming up with a fan-favorite MCU star for his new action thriller film. According to a report by Deadline, Hayley Atwell, well-known for portraying the role of Agent Peggy Carter in Marvel Cinematic Universe films like 'Captain America: The First Avenger,' 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier,' and 'Avengers: Endgame' will be sharing the screenspace with Butler in 'Empire City,'  an upcoming action-thriller helmed by director Michael Matthews. Butler and Atwell are expected to start filming the forthcoming action film sometime this month, as per the media house.

The storyline of 'Empire City' will revolve around a hostage crisis that erupts inside New York’s landmark Clybourn Building. Firefighter Rhett (Gerard Butler), his squad, and his NYPD wife, Dani (Hayley Atwell), will have to pull all the stops to navigate their way through the building and rescue the captives. Butler is producing the film along with his G-BASE partner Alan Siegel, his fellow 'Plane' producer Marc Butan from MadRiver Pictures, and Paul Currie. Meanwhile, Leonine’s Quirin Berg and Alexander Janssen will serve as executive producers. At the time of writing this article, the exact release date of the film was yet to be revealed.

Speaking of Butler, he will soon return for another installment of the hit franchise 'Den of Thieves.' The first film, which premiered on January 19, 2018, grossed $80 million worldwide. The sequel 'Den of Thieves 2: Pantera' hit theatres earlier this year, in January; it received mixed reviews from critics. Soon after, Lionsgate Studios gave the green signal to another sequel of the heist film franchise. On September 30, Butler’s costar O’Shea Jackson Jr. took to his Instagram page and shared an update on the film. "9 months down. Give me another 9 and it’s GGs. Meh. Let’s call it another 6 months. D3N of THI3V3S. Den 3 comin," he captioned the Instagram post.

On the other hand, Atwell will soon be reprising her role as Peggy Carter in Marvel's upcoming superhero film 'Avengers: Doomsday', which is scheduled to release on December 18, 2026, as part of Phase Six of the MCU. The film's sequel, 'Secret Wars', will be released on December 17, 2027. In addition to this, Atwell will also be starring in Duncan Jones' upcoming sci-fi film named 'Rogue Trooper.'

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