Netflix Unveils The Take First Look With Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson, Sets January 15 Release

Netflix has finally shown what Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson look like across a heist table. The streamer released the first poster and a set of photos for The Take, the crime thriller directed by City of God filmmaker Fernando Meirelles and written by Simon Kinberg, and pinned the film to a firm date: January 15, 2027, in select theaters and on Netflix worldwide on the same day. Daisy Edgar-Jones completes the lead trio, and the project, which was known until recently as Here Comes the Flood, now has a shorter title, a release window and the first real glimpse of its look. Netflix announced the news on X on November 9, and the post is embedded below.

The film sits in an appealing spot on the 2027 calendar. It pairs an Oscar winner whose Netflix history is limited to documentary appearances with an actor whose 2026 slate includes work with Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, and it arrives in the first month of the year, typically a slower stretch of the release calendar. The first-look materials reveal a good deal about the story and the film’s unusual structure, and Meirelles has spoken in some detail about why he chose to tell it the way he did. What follows covers what Netflix revealed, what the film is about, who is in it, and what is still unknown.

• The Take arrives in select theaters and on Netflix on January 15, 2027, with no trailer released yet
• Denzel Washington plays master thief Christian Carter, and Robert Pattinson plays Noah, a former Army captain he recruits
• The film follows a bank guard, a teller and a thief in a game of cons and double-crosses, directed by Fernando Meirelles from a Simon Kinberg script
• Meirelles says the story is told almost entirely from Noah’s point of view, with a puzzle-like structure
• The poster carries an R rating, and the project was retitled from Here Comes the Flood in October

What Netflix revealed in the first look

The headline item is the poster. According to ActioNewz’s description, it shows Pattinson and Washington seated on opposite sides of a dark table beneath a single overhead light, both leaning forward with clasped hands as if in negotiation. Washington wears dark glasses and a wristwatch, while Pattinson wears a worn jacket with a shearling collar. The poster carries the tagline “Time to get what you deserve” and an R rating. Netflix’s accompanying photos, credited to photographer Jon Pack, show Pattinson alongside Washington and alongside Edgar-Jones, as well as in a solo portrait as Noah.

The date is the other big detail. Netflix says the film will be available on January 15, 2027, in select theaters and on the service at the same time, and Netflix’s own post pairs the three leads’ names with the writer and director credits and the premiere date. Earlier coverage had said only that the film was coming in 2027, and MovieWeb’s write-up still describes the date as unconfirmed, so the official post is the key update. No trailer has been released. What’s on Netflix reports that principal photography ran from November 3, 2025 to January 22, 2026, which leaves a little under a year between the end of filming and release.

The title change is a smaller detail with a clear story. The film was announced in May 2025 as Here Comes the Flood, with Washington, Pattinson and Edgar-Jones attached and Meirelles directing. Wikipedia notes that it was reported in October 2026 that the title had been changed to The Take, and Netflix’s own listing now uses the shorter name. MovieWeb observed that the new title suits a movie about bank robbers while conceding that the old one carried more gravitas.

What The Take is about

Netflix’s synopsis introduces Noah (Pattinson), a former Army captain who has just left the service and is struggling to find his footing in civilian life. He is approached by Christian Carter (Washington), a charismatic master thief, who recruits him for what he describes as the score of a lifetime: robbing the richest bank in Manhattan. The complication is built into the setup. Netflix Life reports that Noah appears to be the bank’s guard, and ActioNewz notes that his girlfriend, Rose (Edgar-Jones), works at the same bank as a teller. The streamer’s short logline describes a bank guard, a teller and a master thief playing a deadly game of cons and double-crosses.

Meirelles has pointed to what the script withholds. In interviews with Entertainment Weekly, summarized by MovieWeb and ActioNewz, he explained that heist films usually show both sides, the criminals and the people chasing them, while The Take stays with Noah the entire time. He said the audience learns only what Noah learns, in the words of the director, “You only know what he knows.” According to Meirelles, the film never cuts to what other characters are doing when Noah is out of the room, a strict subjectivity he called unusual and that gives the film what the first-look coverage describes as a nonlinear, puzzle-like structure.

That approach also explains the film’s blend of genres. Meirelles said the idea of a story that could be a love story with a robbery in it, or a robbery film with a love story in it, was what drew him to the screenplay, and that both elements carry real weight. The setup, with Noah’s relationship placed inside the building the crew plans to rob, makes the romance and the crime inseparable from the first scene. Kinberg’s earlier pitch of the project as an unconventional heist film fits that description, although the film itself has not been screened publicly.

The cast and crew behind the heist

Beyond the three leads, the cast includes Danai Gurira, Sean Harris, Moisés Arias and Justin Kirk. What’s on Netflix lists Gurira as Oaklynn and Harris as Logan, though Netflix has not yet released full character details. Meirelles is producing alongside Kinberg and Audrey Chon for Genre Films, with Samson Mucke as an executive producer, and Wikipedia credits cinematography to César Charlone, who shot Meirelles’ City of God. Kinberg’s writing credits include Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Dark Phoenix, and Meirelles is an Academy Award nominee whose Netflix credits include The Two Popes.

The director had warm words for his stars in the Entertainment Weekly interview. He called Pattinson endlessly available and willing to do as many takes as needed, said Edgar-Jones brought an interpretation of Rose that led him to adapt his own plans, and described himself as a director who works like a jazz musician, incorporating whatever the actors give him. Washington’s habit of improvising dialogue kept the set unpredictable, according to Meirelles, who said he found the surprise of each take a pleasure. Those comments suggest a loose, actor-driven shoot, which sits interestingly alongside a script built like a puzzle.

Washington’s first Netflix original and Pattinson’s busy year

What’s on Netflix notes that The Take is Washington’s first Netflix original film, as well as Edgar-Jones’ first for the service, while Pattinson has already appeared in Netflix’s The King and The Devil All the Time. Washington is no stranger to crime stories, and Every Movie Plug’s look back at Today in Cinema, November 2: American Gangster Opens in 2007 and Makes a Myth of a Harlem Heroin Kingpin recalls how he played another charismatic criminal, Frank Lucas, in a film that was cancelled and rebuilt before it reached theaters. That piece also touches on the kind of casting what-ifs collected in 10 Actors Who Turned Down Roles That Became Legendary.

Pattinson, meanwhile, has had one of the busiest years of any leading man. MovieWeb notes that he appears in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, A24’s Primetime and Dune: Part Three, which opens December 18 on the same Friday as Avengers: Doomsday, a date Every Movie Plug has mapped in the Dunesday Survival Guide. He is also in the middle of the most-watched casting story in cinema. Variety and Deadline reported this month that he is among the actors who have screen-tested for James Bond, a report covered in Robert Pattinson Reportedly Screen-Tested for James Bond as the 007 Casting Race Tightens, following the earlier shortlist in Who Will Be the Next James Bond? Casting Reportedly Narrows to a Short List. Amazon MGM Studios has declined to comment, and no casting has been announced.

How Netflix is releasing it

The same-day theatrical and streaming release is a hybrid approach that gives the film a limited run in cinemas while making it available to subscribers worldwide. It differs from the pattern Netflix is following with Peter Berg’s war drama, which Every Movie Plug covered in The Mosquito Bowl Opens October 30: Cast, Release Date and What Critics Are Saying: that film opened in theaters first and reaches Netflix on November 25. For The Take, the two arrive together on January 15, and the poster’s R rating signals an adult thriller rather than a family-friendly crowd-pleaser.

The timing also places it near the start of a busy year for the service. Netflix has announced a London-set revenge thriller starring Jason Statham, which Every Movie Plug reported in Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie Reunite for Netflix Revenge Thriller Dogfight, with production due to begin in early 2027. A wider view of what is coming to cinemas and streaming next year is in Most Anticipated Movies of 2027. Compared with the franchise giants arriving in December, The Take offers a very different proposition: a star-led original with no existing audience to lean on, which makes the marketing, starting with this first look, especially important.

What to watch for next

The next milestone is a trailer, which Netflix has not announced. The film’s structure makes a trailer an interesting challenge, since the strict point of view means it can show only what Noah experiences and cannot tease the plan from the thieves’ side. Expect the marketing to lean on the Washington and Pattinson pairing, the bank and the question of whom Noah can trust. Readers who like a crime story built around one man may also enjoy Every Movie Plug’s look at Today in Cinema, October 31: Nightcrawler Opens on Halloween 2014, a different kind of night-time crime thriller.

Until Netflix releases more, the facts are clear and limited: a date, a poster, a handful of photos and a director who has explained his intentions. Readers can follow every Netflix release update and casting report in the Film News section and find longer features on actors, directors and genres in the articles section.

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