STXfilms has dated Guy Ritchie’s untitled film for Jan. 21, 2022.

It puts the British action filmmaker back in business with STXfilms which released the Miramax title The Gentleman before the pandemic to $115M WW. It also returns Richie with his canon star Jason Statham In the film, super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Reluctantly teamed with some of the world’s best operatives (Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone), Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star, Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett), to help them on their globetrotting undercover mission to save the world.

Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham are reuniting in style.

On the heels of May's Wrath of Man, the duo collaborate for a fifth time on Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, which also stars Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Bugzy Malone, Cary Elwes, and Hugh Grant. Ahead of next year's release, EW has your first look at the spy film, as well as new details from Ritchie.

"The truth is I wanted another alibi to give me a reason to work with Jason again because I enjoy collaborating with him so much," shares Ritchie of Operation Fortune, in which Statham (Snatch, Revolver) stars as super-spy Orson Fortune, who must stop a weapons sale involving billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Grant). The mission to save the world finds Fortune reluctantly teamed with some of the world's best operatives (Plaza, Elwes, Malone) and Hollywood's biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Hartnett).

Like Statham, Grant and Hartnett are repeat Ritchie actors, having recently appeared in The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man, respectively. The intriguing new addition to the filmmaker's realm is Plaza, who originally became known for comedy on Parks and Recreation and has subsequently branched out to seemingly every genre but action... until now. "It felt fresh and she felt capable," Ritchie says of casting Plaza. "I am more than delighted with the result."

When EW briefly touched on the film with Statham back in April, the working title was Five Eyes, a far cry from where the writer-director eventually landed with Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre.

"You have to look up the meaning of 'Ruse de guerre;' it's too ironic a premise to ignore," says Ritchie, who worked on the script with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. "Somehow only the French have managed to capture the meaning within a term, 'the accepted unorthodox approach to war' which is really what our film is about."

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre hits theaters in 2022.

In this operation, everyone has a part to play. Watch the new Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre trailer starring Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone, and Hugh Grant. Directed by Guy Ritchie, in theaters 2022.

In the film, super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Reluctantly teamed with some of the world’s best operatives (Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone), Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) to help them on their globe-trotting undercover mission to save the world.

Genre: Action Comedy
Cast: Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone and Hugh Grant
Writers: Guy Ritchie and Ivan Atkinson & Marn Davies
Director: Guy Ritchie
Producers: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Bill Block

The demise of STX as a distributor continues to pose questions for the future of high-profile movies on their slate, including Guy Ritchie’s action film Operation Fortune, Michael Mann’s big-budget biopic Ferrari, and Daisy Ridley thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter.

For months we’ve heard about a deal being in the works between the Bad Moms and Hustlers outfit and Lionsgate, which would see the latter taking on some, if not all, of STX’s movies for distribution.

That remains the direction of travel and multiple STX executives have moved over to Lionsgate, including former STX chairman Adam Fogelson who is now Vice Chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.

We understand more will follow in coming weeks, leaving few staff left in STX’s domestic marketing and distribution team.

If Lionsgate is to take on a bunch more movies it stands to reason that it should bulk up its staff. Fogelson will want ‘his guys’. How the two teams mesh culturally and practically, remains to be seen, however. And with a deal still not finalized between the two studios – we hear there should be some clarity by year’s end – some movies have been caught in limbo.

None more so than Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham’s action-comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre, which has been ready for some time. We understand the film is now most likely to head to a streamer for domestic. We understand there has been back and forth between Miramax, Lionsgate and STX about the film’s domestic release, with neither Miramax or STX keen to be on the hook for sizeable P&A. A theatrical launch was initially the plan via STX but the company couldn’t fulfil that obligation following its downsizing. Lionsgate did at some point show willing to release the movie – a January launch was once mooted but that would have jutted up against Gerard Butler action pic Plane (which we hear is solid). We hear that Miramax is ultimately seeking a high-dollar U.S. streaming deal.

The film’s international distributors — who played a key role in getting the movie financed – have been waiting patiently to get the movie out. We understand they are now tired of waiting and will start their launches from January, even if it means going ahead of the domestic release.

It hasn’t been plain sailing for Operation Fortune, which already had to change its name from Five Eyes — the name of a western intelligence organisation — due to concerns about how that would play in China. Then a plotline involving Ukrainian mobsters became a minor headache after the Russian invasion. We’re assured this was a minor sticking point and re-edits weren’t needed, despite press reports to the contrary.