Magnet Releasing has just announced that they’ve picked up US rights to Neil Marshall’s Centurion. The official synopsis of the historical action film-

CENTURION is set during the war between Roman soldiers and Pict tribesmen during the 2nd century Roman conquest of Britain. Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, 300) stars as Quintus Dias, Roman centurion and son of a legendary gladiator who leads a group of soldiers on a raid of a Pict camp to rescue a captured general (The Wire‘s Dominic West). The son of the Pict leader is murdered during the raid, and the Romans find themselves hunted by a seemingly unstoppable group of the Pict’s most vicious and skilled warriors, led by a beautiful and deadly tracker (Olga Kurylenko from Quantum of Solace), who are hell bent on revenge.

Magnet will release the film in theaters sometime this summer as the sixth entry in their second Six Shooter Film series, which was decidedly action-themed this year. The other five films released have been Bronson, Red Cliff, Ong Bak 2, District 13: Ultimatum and The Warlords. That’s a helluva lot of badassery and death, and Centurion sure seems to fit in well with them.

Magnet’s parent company Magnolia is going to help set this one up for a wide release, and both sides seem excited.

“CENTURION is a blood drenched masterpiece,” said Magnolia/Magnet SVP Tom Quinn. “Neil has made an action movie that delivers on every level, and fans are going to go wild for it. There couldn’t be a better film to wrap up the ‘Six Shooter’ series.”

Neil Marshall adds, “I’m incredibly happy that CENTURION has found a home of such quality and prestige, and amongst such high caliber company too! I look forward to collaborating with Tom and everyone at Magnolia on the forthcoming US release.  If history is written in blood, then CENTURION is hardcore history – bloody and brutal!”

Lame and masturbatory press quotes aside, the movie does look like a ton of fun. Check out the trailer if you haven’t already.


 

On a side note, I’m distressed to read in the comments and such that apparently some people didn’t like Marshall’s last film Doomsday. I didn’t know that was possible. That movie is a complete blast from start to finish, the best John Carpenter movie in 20 years! Centurion of course looks a lot more serious than that completely ridiculous film, but no less impressive.

We’ll let you know an official release date and theater listings as soon as we get them.