'The Protege' Trailer: Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton and Maggie Q Star in New Assassin Flick

Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, and Maggie Q are joining forces for a new, action-packed movie that fans won't want to miss this summer. On Tuesday, Lionsgate released the first trailer for The Protégé, which will be released on Aug. 20, per Collider. The movie follows the story of Anna (played by Q), who was trained by legendary assassin Moody (Jackson) to become one of the world's most dangerous contract killers.

The Protégé, which was originally titled The Asset, was directed by Martin Campbell, who also directed Casino Royale, and written by Richard Wenk, who previously wrote The Equalizer. The official synopsis for the film notes that Moody raised Anna in addition to training her in the killer family business. Things take a turn for Anna when Moody is brutally murdered. His death prompts her to seek out revenge, which causes her to cross paths with another killer, Rembrandt (played by Keaton). Rembrandt quickly develops an attraction to Anna and the pair's "cat and mouse" game soon turns deadly.

This project was first announced back in November 2019, according to Deadline. The Protégé was originally due to start production in January 2020. But, like many other film and television programs in 2020, the movie was forced to delay production because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, they didn't begin filming until later on in 2020, with production wrapping in September. Deadline noted that filming was set to place all around the world in places such as London, Bucharest, and DaNang, Vietnam.

Around the time that the project was first announced, Jeffrey Greenstein from Millennium, which was handling world sales for the film, said, "The Asset is the whole package, and we are excited to bring Richard Wenk's masterful, muscular script to life with the all-star talent of Michael, Samuel, and Maggie. Having a great director like Martin Campbell at the helm will make all the difference in turning this into a big, stylish, and action-packed thrill ride." It was originally speculated that The Protégé would be released in April. However, due to the delays in the production, the release date was subsequently pushed back. The film will now be released on Aug. 20. It is expected to premiere in theaters across the country a little over a year after the pandemic put a halt to the movie theater industry.