Jason Bateman to Co-Star Opposite Taron Egerton in Netflix-Amblin Thriller ‘Carry On’

The new movie is directed by “Black Adam” filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra

Jason Bateman in "Ozark" / Netflix

Jason Bateman has booked his holiday travel.

The multi-hyphenate is scheduled to star opposite Taron Egerton in the new Netflix thriller “Carry On,” TheWrap has confirmed. The film will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, a man who knows a thing about transportation-related terror thanks to “Non-Stop” and “The Commuter.”

Egerton plays a young TSA agent who is blackmailed by a shadowy traveler (presumed to be the Bateman role) to let a dangerous package get through security (and onto a flight). And this happens, of course, during Christmas, which is already giving us “Die Hard 2” vibes. (The overall plot sounds like “Executive Decision” with a little “Red Eye” thrown in for good measure).

TJ Fixman wrote the first draft of the screenplay, with Michael Green doing the most recent polish. Dylan Clark will serve as producer. This is the first movie coming out of a recent Amblin/Netflix deal (which the two giants signed last June).

Collet-Serra has become one of the most dependable journeyman directors currently working. Besides contained thrillers like “Non-Stop” and “The Commuter” (part of a suite of films he made with Liam Neeson that also includes “Unknown” and “Run All Night”), Collet-Serra is just as nimble with down-and-dirty horror movies (“Orphan,” “The Shallows”) and big-budget adventures like last year’s “Jungle Cruise” and October’s long-awaited superhero epic “Black Adam” (both with Dwayne Johnson).

Bateman is currently in production on the Ben Affleck/Matt Damon Nike movie and produced a new romantic comedy for Netflix called “Your Place or Mine” (he also produced Hulu’s recent, excellent Mormon true crime thriller “Under the Banner of Heaven”). Egerton just appeared in Apple TV+ outstanding series “Black Bird” and will soon appear in “Tetris,” a biopic about the race to secure the rights to the popular puzzle game (also from Apple TV+).

Deadline first reported the casting news.

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