After years of speculation, Gareth Evans’ highly influential Indonesian martial arts action film The Raid is finally set to get a U.S.-based reimagining with the Welsh director teaming with action filmmakers Michael Bay and Patrick Hughes for a new take on the 2011 cult classic.
Hughes will direct the film for Netflix with Bay and XYZ Films producing.
Since winning the Midnight Madness Award after its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2011, The Raid, starring Indonesian martial artist Iko Uwais, became a must-see movie among festivalgoers. Sony Pictures Classics had picked up North American distribution for the film in advance of the 2012 edition of Sundance.
The original film was followed in 2014 by The Raid 2, which saw protagonist Rama go undercover to fight both police corruption and gangs in the criminal underworld. The Netflix reimagining will be set in Philadelphia’s drug-infested “Badlands,” where an elite undercover DEA task force climbs a ladder of cartel informants to catch an elusive kingpin.
Hughes, whose film credits include The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and The Man from Toronto, will pen the latest version of The Raid with James Beaufort. Evans and Range Media Partners will executive produce.
“We’re incredibly excited about Patrick’s unique vision for this film. It’s a distinctly original take on the material, which promises to pay great respect to the original film while also bringing a fresh approach and perspective that will set its own course in the action genre,” the producers of the film said in a statement.
News of Netflix’s The Raid remake was first reported by Deadline.
