Paramount Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to the crime thriller 'By Any Means,' starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Directed by Elegance Bratton, the film is scheduled for theatrical release on September 4, 2026. The announcement came ahead of CinemaCon.
Paramount Pictures picked up all U.S. rights to 'By Any Means,' a manhunt thriller set in 1966 Mississippi and loosely based on true events. The story follows a hardened mafia hitman and a young Black FBI agent who form an uneasy alliance to track those responsible for killing civil rights leaders, uncovering a conspiracy that challenges justice, loyalty, and survival. The screenplay is by Sascha Penn, as first reported by Deadline and Variety ahead of CinemaCon. WME Independent and CAA Media Finance handled the domestic sale, with north.five.six managing international sales. It opens against Amazon MGM Studios' 'How to Rob a Bank' on Labor Day weekend, a date Paramount had reserved. The cast includes Nicole Beharie, David Strathairn, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, and Ethan Embry. Producers are Alex Lebovici of Hammerstone Studios, Chester Algernal Gordon and Bratton of Freedom Principle, Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road, and Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson of Municipal. Director Elegance Bratton said in a statement, “This is a story about unlikely alliances forged under impossible circumstances — where justice is not clean, and the truth comes at a cost. I wanted to explore what it means to confront violence not just as an act, but as a system — and what it demands of those caught inside it.” The project marks Bratton's follow-up to his narrative debut 'The Inspection.'
