Jaume Collet-Serra’s Cliffhanger reboot has hit another snag. After leaving the financially-stressed Row K for Neon, the re-imagining of the Sylvester Stallone classic is shuffling toward the new release date of February 24, 2027, in the United States, and April 29, 2027, in Germany.
Neon Steps In as Row K Scales Back
Neon plans to “go big or go home” with Cliffhanger, hoping it will become the distributor’s biggest box office success ever. While Neon is the latest studio to handle the film, it doesn’t want to leave the project’s original backer, Row K, out in the cold. Sources say Row K will remain a part of the picture “in some capacity.” Before almost running out of money, Row K planned to release Cliffhanger this month on more than 3,000 screens nationwide. The August date has since been scrapped, and the film has been repositioned for a February 2027 release.
While a troubled release could spell disaster for most movies, test audiences say it’ll be worth the wait. The film cost a reported $100 million to make, which is a significant chunk of change for everyone involved. Row K offloaded Cliffhanger to Neon for $12 million, plus a $20 million P&A commitment.
A New Era in the Dolomites: Plot and Cast Details
The Cliffhanger reboot follows Ray Cooper (Pierce Brosnan), “a seasoned mountaineer who runs a luxury chalet in the Dolomites with his daughter. When a weekend excursion with a billionaire’s son turns violent, they are targeted by a group of kidnappers. As the attack unfolds, Ray’s daughter, Naomi (Lily James), still haunted by a tragic climbing accident, escapes into the mountains and must fight for survival against both nature and her pursuers.” The reboot is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a script by Ana Lily Amirpour, Sasha Penn, Mark Bianculli, and Melanie Toast.
Lily James Takes On the Heights
I’m excited to see more of the Cliffhanger reboot beyond the few images released, but it certainly sounds like Lily James went all out for the film. In fact, the actress soon developed a passion for mountain climbing.
“Oh my God, I had the time of my life,” James previously said about filming Cliffhanger. “It was so hard. I did five hours of climbing a day for many weeks. I was on mountains nonstop. I fell completely in love with it. It’s the most mind-body-soul activity. And I’m a [mountain-climbing] addict now. I did all my own climbing [in the film], and I got real strong. I was just pounding press-ups between every take.”
James added that she’s “really proud of Cliffhanger. I’m so excited. We’re in the edit and getting it ready, and I’m super hopeful. It is such a cool re-imagining, and while it’s really unexpected at times, it keeps all the gripping glory of the original, I hope.”
How a Scrapped Sequel Became a Full Reboot
The original Cliffhanger was a much-needed success for Stallone, who was coming off back-to-back comedy flops with Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. A follow-up was originally fast-tracked in the 1990s—titled Cliffhanger 2: The Dam, which would have seen Gabe Walker fighting terrorists at the Hoover Dam, but it languished in development hell for decades.
Stallone was actually attached to reprise his role for this current project when it was initially conceived as a legacy sequel. However, pay-guarantee disputes and scheduling conflicts with Tulsa King led to his exit just before production, prompting a complete creative overhaul that transformed the sequel into a full reboot, with Pierce Brosnan stepping into the veteran mountaineer role.
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