The Killer's Game is a 2024 American action thriller film directed by J. J. Perry and written by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Jay Bonansinga.

The film stars Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Pom Klementieff, and Ben Kingsley.

After an examination for his headaches, Joe finds Maize at her dance studio and returns her phone, which she lost during the previous mayhem.

Marianna, whose father mentored Joe before he killed him, accepts the contract, and soon sends the hit out, which takes effect at midnight.

Creighton Lovedahl, who turned down the initial contract, joins the hunt, along with Scottish brothers Angus and Rory Mackenzie, the British strippers Ginni and Tonya, a.k.a.

Originally titled Godforsaken, Rand Ravich wrote his adaptation of Jay Bonansinga's novel, The Killer's Game, on spec in the mid-1990s and sold his draft to New Line Cinema in December 1995.

[11] New Line offered the film to a wide array of directors, including John Woo, Wolfgang Petersen, Alex Proyas, and Renny Harlin, but failed to attract any to sign on.

[12] In August 2004, rights transitioned to Paramount Pictures; Intermedia and Andrew Lazar were attached to produce while Simon Kinberg handled rewrites.

Caruso and Peter Landesman rewrote the script ahead of a planned production start of December 2, 2019, in the Dominican Republic.

[18][19] Development quietly halted again until May 2023 when distribution rights shifted to Lionsgate, with J.J. Perry directing, and James Coyne hired to rewrite the script.

[24] Principal photography began in July 2023 in Budapest,[25] with the film having been granted an interim agreement waiver to proceed amid the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

[3][4] In the United States and Canada, The Killer's Game was released alongside Speak No Evil and Am I Racist?, and was projected to gross around $5 million from 2,623 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's consensus reads: "While it can be commended for refreshingly casting the reliable Dave Bautista in a romantic role, this otherwise tepid hitman comedy doesn't make many inventive moves on the board.

"[34] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.