Alan Ritchson's New Sci-Fi Movie Lands at Netflix

Alan Ritchson's War Machine, a science-fiction movie from filmmaker Patrick Hughes, has landed at Netflix. Lionsgate, producers of the film, have elected to send it straight to streaming rather than giving it a traditional theatrical release -- perhaps to cash in on the audience that has made Ritchson's Reacher one of the biggest "water cooler" TV hits in recent memory. Hughes, who directed the The Hitman's Bodyguard films for Lionsgate, wrote the script for the movie -- titled War Machine -- with James Beaufort (Machine), who is also reportedly working with Hughes on a project inspired by The Raid: Redemption.

According to Deadline, who first reported the deal, here's the film's synopsis: "In the final 24 Hours of the world's toughest selection process, a team of Army Rangers encounter a threat beyond their imagination." Hughes will get the story credit on the movie.

Ritchson is taking advantage of his moment in a big way. Besides War Machine, Ritchson is developing Playdate with Kevin James, and will appear in the upcoming Henry Cavill movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and the 11th Fast and the Furious film. He also has plans for a Christmas movie, which will also star Arnold Schwarzenegger. At the same time, fans have started lobbying for him to play the role of Batman in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe, and Ritchson is happy to ride that hype, having said in several interviews that it would love to play the part.

"The fact that people are interested in me playing Batman is a real honor and privilege. It's one of the first characters I fell in love with as a child: I still remember the big, long pistol coming out of Joker's pants as he goes to shoot down the Batplane," Ritchson said last month. "Those iconic moments really resonated with me as a child. For there to even be a conversation or a rumor mill surrounding this role, for me… all I can do is laugh. I just think it's wild that's where we are,"

War Machine is produced by Hidden Pictures' Todd Lieberman and Alex Young, Range Media Partners' Rich Cook and Hughes' Huge Film with Greg McLean (Wolf Creek).

There's no word yet on a release date for War Machine.