Thief vs Detective: A Battle of Wits

Thief vs Detective: A Battle of Wits is an upcoming American-Italian crime action comedy film produced by Firebasket Studios and Ravenworks Studios. It will star Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes as Rupan Gold and Detective Ed Scott, respectively.

The film is set to be released on March 15, 2019 in 2D, 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Premise
Legendary thief Rupan Gold (Cumberbatch) meets legendary private detective Ed Scott (Fiennes). It's a battle of wits between the two in Italy.

Plot
Ed Scott receives a email from the ICPO, commonly known as Interpol, saying that they need his expertise on catching notorious thief Rupan Gold. Scott accepts and he gets a plane ticket to San Marino, where Gold was last seen.

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Cast

 * Ralph Fiennes as Ed Scott, a famous private detective sent to San Marino to catch Rupan Gold.
 * Benedict Cumberbatch as Rupan Gold, a famous thief living in San Marino.
 * Halle Berry as Rebecca, Rupan's love interest.
 * Chi McBride as Ted Smith, ICPO-INTERPOL director.
 * Rowan Atkinson as Ben, MI6 director.
 * Charlie Hunnam as Sean Ross, MI6 special agent

Production
Writing took place in late 2017 to early spring 2018, and was written by Tamura Yasuhide (Ryobe: The Sea), and Chaossy (Xelphos Adventures). After writing, they attached a director, Satow Udo. Udo left the project after creative differences so Chaossy hired Nikolai Horn. Casting took about two to three weeks. The camera used for filming was the Alexa 65, developed by Arri. Filming took place in the summer on location at San Marino. Filming also took place at Hashima Island, an abandoned island near Japan. Secondary filming took place at Pinewood Studios in England. Filming wrapped up in September of 2018. Post production took place at Venga Shanghai and Typewriter Productions West.

Influence
The film shares resemblance to other franchises, like Lupin III and Sherlock Holmes.

Release
The film was released on March 15, 2019 internationally by Warner Bros.

Critical reception
The film received a 81% on Rotten Tomatoes for it's blend of action and comedy, and great use of world building. The music and direction were also praised. Reviewers mostly criticized the poor script and use of shaky camera for some of it's action sequences.

Home media
The film will be released on digital platforms on June 20, 2019, and on DVD/Blu-ray/4K UHD on July 9, 2019.

Sequels
Two sequels were announced, to be released on January 10, 2020 and January 29, 2021, respectively. The second film is to be directed and written by Chaossy himself, while the third film will be directed by Chaossy and written by Skylar Duke and Oscar Davidson.

The sequels will be filmed between July 2019 to August 2019 and March 2020 to April 2020.