Mark Wahlberg Sets Action Movie Reunion With Director Of Underrated $131M Thriller At Netflix

Mark Wahlberg and director Baltasar Kormákur are reuniting for a new action movie. They previously worked together on Contraband and Two Guns, the latter of which is an underrated buddy cop comedy thriller starring Wahlberg and Denzel Washington. It went on to gross $131 million at the worldwide box office.

Deadline now reports that Wahlberg has been cast in Netflix’s The Big Fix, which will be directed by Kormákur. Riz Ahmed, who won an Emmy Award for his performance in the critically acclaimed HBO miniseries The Night Of, has been cast as well. Production is set to begin later this year.

The Big Fix is inspired by a true story, which has Wahlberg playing an Interpol cop who discovers a global scandal that involves FIFA games being rigged. He hunts down the target who is behind the scandal, a hustler (Ahmed) working with Chinese crime syndicates and who is now making millions through his scheme. This leads to an international cat-and-mouse chase between the two characters.

The script is being written by Guy Bolton and Justin Haythe, whose respective past writing credits include Apple TV’s Hijack and the Leonardo DiCaprio film Revolutionary Road. Kormákur is producing the movie alongside Peter Chernin and David Ready of Chernin Entertainment.

Another Netflix and Chernin Entertainment thriller directed by Kormákur is already set to release this year, with Apex making its streaming debut on April 24. The upcoming movie stars Charlize Theron as a woman who finds herself being hunted by a ruthless serial killer played by Taron Egerton.

Before Apex finished production, Netflix and Chernin were already exploring different ideas for their next collaboration helmed by Kormákur. The Big Fix has reportedly been a longtime priority for Chernin and Netflix executive Kira Goldberg, who previously worked with the production company during her time at 20th Century Fox.

In addition to Kormákur further strengthening his partnership with Netflix through this new project, the same is true for Wahlberg. There are already multiple original Netflix Mark Wahlberg movies, including Spenser Confidential and The Union, and now he has another film lined up for the streamer. He has also signed on for The Operator, an action-thriller that was acquired by the streaming platform in December.

With Contraband releasing in 2012, followed by Two Guns in 2013, it has been over a decade since Mark Wahlberg and Kormákur last worked together, making The Big Fix an overdue and highly-anticipated reunion between the actor and director.