Could Soderbergh's 'Knockout' Spy Thriller Become A Franchise?

As if you haven’t had enough about Steven Soderbergh’s action spy thriller “Knockout” starring Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fasssbender and Michael Douglas. Yesterday we revealed that Bill Paxton (subbing in for Dennis Quaid) and French actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz (“Amelie,” Spielberg’s “Munich”) had joined the cast that also includes Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum and Michael Angarano.

Now the closest thing to a full synopsis has come out via the Irish Press and considering everything we’ve been told so far it’s right on the money. The Irish producer of the sequences shot in Dublin also guesses the film could spawn a franchise as apparently the conclusion is somewhat open-ended, hinting towards another installment.

The spy thriller tells the story of Mallory Kane, a freelance covert operative played by U.S. mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano, who is hired out by her handler to various global entities to perform jobs which governments can’t authorise and heads of state would rather not know about.After a mission to rescue a hostage in Barcelona, Mallory is quickly dispatched on another to Dublin where she partners up with another operative. But the operation goes awry as Mallory is double crossed, and she must use all her skills to escape an international manhunt, make it back to the U.S., protect her family, and exact revenge on those that have betrayed her.

Sounds pretty great. Especially since the chameleon-like Soderbergh has never tackled anything remotely like this. Although we’re sure the basics of this synopsis are correct, we’re told screenwriter Lem Dobbs has done a page one rewrite of the entire script.