On the surface, you’d expect a blockbuster-sized sci-fi thriller directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Ben Affleck described as being “Hitchcock on steroids” to be a hot ticket in Tinseltown, but it’s been well over a year and a half since Hypnotic wrapped shooting, and it still doesn’t have a release date.
Even more concerningly, the $65 million production that the Desperado and Spy Kids creator had been developing for almost two decades wrapped principal photography before Affleck had finished up his commitments to The Flash, and that particular troubled epic is in the can, has a first full-length trailer, and is finally hitting the big screen in June.
And yet, Deadline reports that despite its impressive pedigree and high concept premise that finds Affleck starring as a detective investigating a mystery revolving around his daughter and a top-secret government program isn’t just awaiting a release date, it doesn’t even have a domestic distributor as of yet.
Does that mean Hypnotic is heading down the Batgirl route of being tarred with the “unreleasable” brush, or is it simply a case of nobody being willing to stump up the funds? Neither Affleck nor Rodriguez is above attaching their names to the occasional flop or two, so it’s exceedingly curious to get our collective memory jogged that not only does the film actually exist, but it’s as good as ready, but nobody seems even the slightest bit willing to take a chance.
Affleck, Rodriguez, sci-fi, and roided-up Hitchcock sounds enticing at the very least, but the wait goes on.