Empire City is an upcoming action thriller film directed by Michael Matthews and written by S. Craig Zahler and Brian Tucker, based on an original story by Zahler. It stars Gerard Butler, Hayley Atwell, Omari Hardwick, and Mel Jarnson.
Contents
Premise
When a hostage crisis erupts inside New York City's Clybourn Building, firefighter Rhett, working with his squad and his NYPD officer wife Dani, must navigate the building to rescue the captives trapped inside.
Cast
Gerard Butler as Rhett
Hayley Atwell as Dani
Omari Hardwick as Hawkins
Mel Jarnson as Leda, Hawkins' right-hand operative
Michael Imperioli as Mayor Holloway
Danny Huston as Charles Clybourn
Paul Ben-Victor as Commissioner Lance Davies
Evan Handler as Chief Bagley
Tre Hale
Michael Beach
Dominic Bogart
Stephen Murphy
Jack DiFalco
Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau
Production
The original script was written by S. Craig Zahler, bearing the title Breaking the Empire State. The film, with revisions by Brian Tucker, was initially shopped at the 2024 Cannes Film Market as Empire State, packaged with Gerard Butler to star and Christian Gudegast to direct. By November 2025, it was repackaged for the 2025 American Film Market with Michael Matthews now directing and Hayley Atwell joining the cast. Principal photography began that month in Melbourne, with Bridger Nielson serving as the cinematographer. In January 2026, Omari Hardwick, Mel Jarnson, Tre Hale, Michael Beach, Dominic Bogart, Stephen Murphy, Jack DiFalco, and Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau joined the cast. Filming wrapped in mid-February 2026. In March 2026, it was reported that Michael Imperioli, Danny Huston, Paul Ben-Victor, and Evan Handler were also part of the cast.