Jeremy Renner is attached to star in 12 Bullets, a London gang action thriller produced by Thunder Road (the John Wick company) with Sky, as Legendary’s 193 label takes international sales into next week’s American Film Market and CAA Media Finance handles North America, Deadline reported on 5 November.
Key facts
- Star: Jeremy Renner; director: Sean Ellis (Anthropoid); script: Tim Walker
- Producers: Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee for Thunder Road; developed with Sky; UK and Ireland release as a Sky Original
- Sales: 193 (Patrick Wachsberger) international; CAA Media Finance, North America; AFM launch
- Logline (Deadline): an American fights rival gangs on London’s “supposedly gun-free streets” with a single gun and twelve bullets
What buyers get at AFM
The package puts a named star, a UK broadcaster original and a proven action producer on the same AFM one-sheet. Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee produce; Sky developed the project with the company and will release it in the UK and Ireland as a Sky Original. That structure matters for foreign sales: a UK home theatrical-or-pay window is already attached while 193 shops the rest of the world and CAA Media Finance works North America separately.
Sean Ellis directs from Tim Walker’s script. Ellis’s credits include the Oscar-nominated short Cashback, Sundance audience winner Metro Manila and the wartime thriller Anthropoid. Renner’s Thunder Road history runs through The Town and Wind River; Wachsberger’s 193 previously handled sales on Thunder Road titles including Sicario, John Wick and The Surgeon. Wachsberger told Deadline the company wants “bold, high-concept action” with international appeal and called London and the twelve-bullet constraint the commercial hook.
The film is one of two Renner packages 193 is taking into the Santa Monica market. Earlier this week Deadline separately reported that 193 is also selling A Speck in the Sea, another Renner vehicle, into the same market. For buyers that doubles exposure to the actor’s post-Mayor of Kingstown feature pipeline without disclosing budgets, start dates or co-stars on either title – none of which Deadline or The Playlist published for 12 Bullets.
Where it sits in the market
AFM week is already thick with packaging stories the desk has tracked: twelve distributors forming the Lokia network, Romania’s first Country of Focus designation and casting-led sales such as Rosamund Pike’s body-horror Feed. 12 Bullets is the clearer UK–US action sell: Sky’s Original label for home territories, Thunder Road’s brand association with contained gun-fu, and a logline short enough for a market flyer. What remains open – budget, shooting city beyond “London”, supporting cast and whether the Sky deal is day-and-date or pay-first – will be answered in buyer rooms, not in the announcement.
Our reading
For international buyers, the useful signals are the Sky Original commitment, Thunder Road’s producing credit and 193’s willingness to lead with Renner on two AFM titles. The twelve-bullet premise is a marketing line, not a financing document: without a disclosed budget or start date, the package is still a sales conversation. The next evidence that would move it from flyer to closing is a North American deal via CAA Media Finance or a confirmed shoot window after the market.
Related: Lokia’s twelve-distributor network; Rosamund Pike’s Feed AFM launch; Fox’s $22bn Roku close.