Announced as far back as 2018, Hypnotic is a mind-bending action thriller about a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program, while investigating a string of impossible high-end crimes. The film is written by Rodriguez and Max Borenstein (Godzilla franchise, The Terror). Rodriguez, Studio 8 CEO Jeff Robinov and his colleagues Guy Danella & John Graham are producing with Solstice Studios.

Production on the film will start on September 20 2021, in Austin, Texas. Hypnotic is directed by Robert Rodriguez and stars Academy Award winner Ben Affleck (Argo, Batman v Superman) and Alice Braga (Queen of the South, City of God). The film was originally set to begin principal photography in April 2020 but was shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak and insurance issues.

This will be Rodriguez's first film since 2019's Alita: Battle Angel though he did direct an episode of The Mandalorian. Braga will next be seen in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, starring alongside Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, and Viola Davis. She rose to fame with her starring role in 2002's City of God. She has played the lead character for five seasons on the hit TV series Queen of the South and recently starred in Luca Guadagnino's limited series We Are Who We Are. She has also starred in supporting roles in blockbusters like I am Legend and Elysium.

Ben Affleck will be next seen in George Clooney's Tender Bar, Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, and Adrian Lyne's Deep Water releasing this year. He will also be reprising his role as The Batman one more time for DCs The Flash. Studio 8 is a filmmaker-driven company focused on building longstanding relationships with filmmakers to develop, produce and acquire both potential tentpoles and prestige pictures.

Studio 8 partners with filmmakers and talent to make possible their unique creative vision and deliver that vision to audiences globally. Studio 8 founder and CEO, Jeff Robinov, previously served as an executive at Warner Bros., climbing the ranks to serve as President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

Solstice Studios is an independent movie company based in Los Angeles, founded in October 2018. The studio develops, fully finances, produces, sells internationally, and distributes feature films in the U.S. on a wide-release basis. The company has a partnership with Ingenious Media.

Solstice's first film, Unhinged, starring Academy Award Winner Russell Crowe was the first new movie back in US theatres last summer. The Solstice team has a $5 billion production track record. The company's senior team includes President & CEO Mark Gill, Head of Production Lisa Ellzey, Co-Production Head Guy Botham, Marketing/Strategy Head Vincent Bruzzese, Acquisitions & International Head Crystal Bourbeau, Business & Legal Affairs Head Trey Yasuda, Chief Financial Officer Shaun Williams and Head of US Distribution Shari Hardison. Solstice Studios has been in the news lately for moving Mark Wahlberg starrer Joe Bell and Gerard Butler's The Plane off its distribution list.

The reason being that solstice is established to do theatrical releases upward of 2000 screens and with genre films like Joe Bell that wasn't possible. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong with the production of Hypnotic. The release date for Hypnotic has not been announced yet but if all goes according to plan, the film should debut in late 2022.