Unhinged to be the first new film to hit U.S. theaters! Watch the trailer!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The first film to hit theaters since the coronavirus pandemic wrapped the world in its deadly grasp is Solstice Studios' UNHINGED, starring Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe and Caren Pistorius. Set to race into theaters on July 1st, the psychological thriller that's directed by Derrick Borte (LONDON TOWN, AMERICAN DREAMER) from a script penned by Carl Ellsworth (RED EYE, DISTURBIA) unveiled a brand-new trailer and poster today, both of which see Crowe's character taking road rage to unprecedented levels.

In UNHINGED, Russell Crowe stars in a timely psychological thriller that explores the fragile balance of a society pushed to the edge, taking something we've all experienced- road rage – to an unpredictable and terrifying conclusion. Rachel (Caren Pistorius) is running late to work when she has an altercation at a traffic light with a stranger (Crowe) whose life has left him feeling powerless and invisible. Soon, Rachel finds herself and everyone she loves the target of a man who decides to make one last mark upon the world by teaching her a series of deadly lessons. What follows is a dangerous game of cat and mouse that proves you never know just how close you are to someone who is about to become unhinged.

Joining Crowe and Pistorius for the intense thriller are actors Jimmi Simpson (WESTWORLD, UNSOLVED), Gabriel Bateman (CHILD'S PLAY, LIGHTS OUT), Michael Papajohn (AMERICAN ULTRA, JURASSIC WORLD) and Anne Leighton (LUCIFER, GRIMM), among others.

“When we green lit this film, I probably figured that July 4th weekend and Christmas would be the two least likely slots,” said Solstice chairman/CEO Mark Gill. “We were sitting on September 4 and then COVID-19 happened, and A Quiet Place 2 moved out of its original slot and landed on our date. When you are in a speedboat and a giant ship is coming at you, you better move out of the way. We looked at the rest of the year, fall/winter and spring 2021. The release schedule was already crowded, and when you add all the films that have been delayed, it made it think that maybe we go sooner.”

Traditionally, the July 4th holiday weekend is that magical time of year when we see big studio films making the scene. However, due to the coronavirus crisis, many studios have chosen to premiere their potential box office barn burners later in the year. This being the case, Soltice Studios has seen these conditions as an opportunity for a movie like UNHINGED to strike, provided that theaters are open for business and able to meet conditions that will keep patrons at a safe distance from one another while in the theater.

“The first call was to John Fithian at NATO, whose organization is in touch with state public services departments, and if they had said you can’t open theaters, we would have said forget it. We don’t want to do anything that isn’t safe and expert-guided,” Gill said about observing NATO's plans for reopening theaters.

Interestingly enough, Solstice had conducted their own poll of 1000 moviegoers on how many were willing to return to the theaters in July, and had found that a vast majority of those polled were down to tempt the fates by returning to cinemas this Summer.

We thought maybe 40% would say they were eager to return to the theaters, but we were surprised to see the number at 80%,” he said. “We became convinced that enough theaters will have been open for a couple of weeks, playing repertory and not new films. This is a relatively modest budget movie at a $33 million budget, and so if we earn $30 million at the box office, we will be fine. If you made a $200 million movie, that would not be acceptable. The bar for success is modest. It was heartening for us to hear the perspectives of theater owners. We are launching as a company that makes films for the theatrical marketplace, and there’s no better way to demonstrate your commitment to theatrical than to be the canary in the coal mine in a post-pandemic atmosphere. We love and support the theaters and the jobs they represent, but from a business perspective, we see an opportunity to have a week or two of clear path before theaters get Mulan and Tenet.

You can check out the new poster for the film below. Meanwhile, UNHINGED will arrive in theaters on July 1, 2020.