Denzel Washington’s Netflix Heist Thriller Ditches ‘Here Comes the Flood’ for a Bolder New Title

Few casting combinations in recent memory have felt as quietly ambitious as the one behind ‘The Take’, a Netflix heist thriller that puts two of Hollywood’s most respected leading men in the same bank vault, figuratively speaking. It has the pedigree of a prestige crime film and the star power of a streaming event, and it has been a long time coming.

The project’s road to the screen has been anything but quick. Netflix picked up the original script back in 2020, and the film spent years in development, with comedy star Jason Bateman at one point in talks to direct. Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles eventually took the job, which marks his return to feature directing after a six-year hiatus.

Now the movie has a new identity. The heist thriller that was announced as ‘Here Comes the Flood’ is now called ‘The Take’, and Netflix has confirmed it will arrive in 2027. An exact release date has not been announced.

Netflix’s project page already uses the new title and lists the film as in production in New Jersey. It is the same project under a different name, with Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones still leading the cast.

According to Netflix’s Tudum, the story follows a bank guard, a teller and a master thief caught up in a deadly game of cons and double-crosses. The streamer describes it as an unconventional heist movie, and that framing is important.

Rather than following a standard bank robbery plot, the film is described as built around deception and shifting loyalties. Because the three central characters sit in different positions inside and outside the bank, each has different stakes in the same potential job. Netflix has not clarified which actor plays which role.

Washington, Pattinson and Edgar-Jones were announced for the film in May 2025. Danai Gurira, Sean Harris, Moisés Arias and Justin Kirk joined the cast that November.

The leads each bring a recognizable résumé. Washington is known for ‘Training Day’ and ‘Glory’, Pattinson for ‘The Batman’ and ‘Tenet’, and Edgar-Jones for ‘Normal People’ and ‘Twisters’. Washington has also never starred in a Netflix original, which makes his involvement a notable get for the streamer, and one report points out that he and Pattinson had not worked together before.

Meirelles is best known for ‘City of God’, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and for ‘The Two Popes’ at Netflix. One outlet pointed to the heist sequences in ‘City of God’ as a sign he could bring a kinetic, visually sharp approach to this genre.

The screenplay was written by Simon Kinberg, whose credits include ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’. Meirelles also produces alongside Kinberg and Audrey Chon under Genre Films, with Samson Mucke attached as executive producer.

The 2027 date is a shift from the original plan. Variety reported in August that the film would move from the 2026 calendar to 2027, and no reason for the move was given in the coverage I found.

There is also context around Netflix’s track record. Empire has noted that the streamer has had patchy luck with star-studded genre films, citing ‘The Gray Man’, ‘Red Notice’ and ‘Heart of Stone’ as examples that fell flat. The project was announced during Netflix’s Upfronts presentation, where it was billed alongside a Jamie Foxx film titled ‘Fight for ‘84’.

A firm release date and first footage have not been announced. The open question is how the film’s twisty premise plays out, since the logline promises double-crosses but offers few specifics.

For now, the new title gives the film a fresh identity. A bank guard, a teller and a master thief make for a compelling setup, and the cast gives it extra weight.