Tom Ortenberg has acquired all US rights to the Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller in a pre-Cannes coup for financier QED, which now heads to the Croisette with domestic distribution attached to one of the biggest projects in the market.

David Ayer will direct the story about a DEA squad that steals money from a cartel and is pursued by assassins.

Ayer reunites with Open Road following their collaboration on the upcoming police thriller End Of Watch which Open Road will release on Sept 28.

Skip Woods wrote the original screenplay and QED’s Bill Block and Paul Hanson are producing with Joe Roth, Palak Patel and Al Ruddy. Alex Ott of Ayer’s Crave Films is executive producer.

Schwarzenegger is filming The Tomb and will appear in The Expendables 2 in August. He also stars in The Last Stand which will be released in January 2013.

Ortenberg negotiated the deal for Open Road alongside general counsel and evp of operations and business affairs, Elliott Kleinberg and svp of acquisitions Ben Cotner. Block, Hanson and Chris Corabi, negotiated the deal for QED International and Patrick Knapp at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal negotiated on behalf of Schwarzenegger, along with CAA who negotiated for Schwarzenegger and Ayer. 

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