'Boss Level', A Joe Carnahan Time Loop Movie Starring Frank Grillo And Mel Gibson, Heads To Hulu

Boss Level, the latest from Narc and The Grey director Joe Carnahan, has been sitting around waiting for a distributor since 2019. The sci-fi action flick that stars Frank Grillo and Mel Gibson was originally scheduled to arrive in August 2019, but it missed its release date and has been without a home ever since Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, who purchased the film in 2018, dropped it. Now, Boss Level will have a second chance, thanks to Hulu. The streaming service just signed an eight-figure deal for United States distribution rights to the film.

Deadline is reporting that Hulu just purchased Boss Level, a sci-fi action flick from Joe Carnahan that stars Frank Grillo, Naomi Watts, Mel Gibson, Will Sasso, Ken Jeong, Annabelle Wallis, and Michelle Yeoh. That's a fairly interesting cast, although I'm sure Gibson's presence will get the most attention, as the actor will forever carry barrage with him due to his personal issues.

In Boss Level, Grillo plays "former special forces agent Roy Pulver, who is trapped in a time loop that constantly repeats the day of his murder. Pulver manages to uncover clues about a secret government project that could unlock the mystery behind his death but must find Colonel Ventor (Gibson), the head of the government program, while outrunning assassins determined to keep him from the truth, and save his wife (Watts)."

Carnahan wrote the pic with Chris Borey and Eddie Borey. In 2018, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures purchased the U.S. distribution rights to Boss Level, and planned to release it on August 16, 2019. But that release never happened, and by June of 2020, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures had dropped the film entirely.

Before that, however, Carnahan screened the film for an audience in Hollywood in February of this year, where it generated some positive buzz. Hulu now plans to have the film ready for streaming in 2021. It's not the first time loop movie Hulu purchased – earlier this year at Sundance they scooped up the Andy Samberg time loop comedy Palm Springs, which was released on the streaming service in July. Time loop movies feel extra, well, timely these days, since we all seem to be stuck in one, what with the coronavirus and the seemingly never-ending presidential election.

I like some of Carnahan's work. Narc is a hell of a movie and I think The Grey is a borderline masterpiece, even though the marketing sold it all wrong – trailers portrayed it as another "Liam Neeson kicks ass!" movie when it was really a bleak meditation on mortality and the cold, inescapable grasp of death. That said, he has plenty of misses, too – despite a fun cast, Smokin' Aces is a fucking mess, and when was the last time anyone even thought about his A-Team movie? Still, I'm curious to check out Boss Level when it drops next year.