After the blockbuster success of `Extraction,` which they produced and was released earlier this year, Joe and Anthony Russo are sticking with Netflix for their next directorial effort. The project is titled `The Gray Man,` which Deadline describes as a `James Bond-level franchise-starter` with `a budget upwards of $200 million.` That price tag will make `The Gray Man` the most expensive Netflix original movie to date. The movie comes attached with two big stars: Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, the latter of whom knows the Russo brothers quite well after starring in several of their `Captain America` and `Avengers` movies.
`The Gray Man` is a Marvel reunion for the Russo brothers not just because of star Chris Evans but also because of `Avengers` screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who have given Joe Russo's original `Gray Man` script a polish. The Russo brothers will produce the movie through their AGBO company. Netflix had great success with the AGBO-produced action movie `Extraction` earlier this year. The Chris Hemsworth-starring tentpole earned 99 million views in four weeks to become the biggest Netflix original film debut in the streamer's history.
`The movie is a real mano a mano between those two great actors, who represent two different versions of the CIA, in what it can be, and what it can do,` Anthony Russo said. `For those who were fans of 'Captain America: Winter Soldier,' this is us moving into that territory in more of a real world setting. That's what this movie really means for us.`
`The intention is for it to be competitive with any theatrical and the ability to do it with Gosling and Evans is a dream for us,` added Joe Russo. `The idea is to create a franchise and build out a whole universe, with Ryan at the center of it. We have all committed to the first movie and that's got to be great to get us to the second movie.`
Production on `The Gray Man` is eyeing a January 2021 start date.