Rocket Science is launching international sales in Cannes on a Cliffhanger reboot which will see Sylvester Stallone reprise his role from the 1993 action thriller and Ric Roman Waugh direct.
Neal H. Moritz’s Original Film (Fast X) will produce with Rocket Science and Stallone and Braden Aftergood’s Balboa Productions. Casting is currently underway for a lead to headline the ensemble cast.
Stallone starred in the original as Gabe Walker, a former search and rescue mountain climber who gets caught up with criminals searching for suitcases full of cash strewn across the Rockies after a botched mid-air heist.
Mark Bianculli (Hunters) wrote the screenplay. Moritz and Toby Jaffe are producing for Original Film, alongside Stallone under his Balboa Productions and Thorsten Schumacher with partner Lars Sylvest for Rocket Science, who will also finance.
Waugh, Ana Lily Amirpour, Chance Wright, Gianluca Chakra and Hisham Alghanim serve as executive producers. CAA Media will represent North American and Chinese rights.
Waugh said: “Growing up with the biggest action films of the 80s and 90s, working on many of them myself, Cliffhanger was by far one of my favorite spectacles. It’s a dream to be at the helm for the next chapter, climbing the Italian Alps alongside Sylvester Stallone. It’s going to be a great challenge and blast taking this franchise to new heights, a responsibility I don’t take lightly.”
Moritz added: “I’ll never forget the thrill I felt watching Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger. I am incredibly excited to be working with him and Ric Waugh to continue the story of Gabe Walker and introduce this iconic story to a new generation of filmgoers around the world.”
Stallone can next be seen in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 for Disney/Marvel and The Expendables 4 for Lionsgate.
Waugh’s credits include Lionsgate’s Snitch starring Dwayne Johnson, Lionsgate’s Angel Has Fallen with Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman, Greenland starring Butler and Morena Baccarin for STX and Shot Caller starring Nikolaj Coster Waldau. His next project, Open Road Films’ Kandahar is set to release theatrically this month and reunites him with Butler in the leading role. He is attached to the Greenland sequel, Greenland: Migration, currently in development.
Wright Productions and Entertainment, and separately Front Row Entertainment provided development finance for Cliffhanger. Range Media Partners represents Waugh. Rocket Science has a partnership with StudioCanal to secure the film’s rights. Stallone and Balboa Productions are represented by CAA.
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