Kevin Hart could be on cloud nine if he can pull off a high-flying heist operation in the first trailer for Netflix’s upcoming comedy-thriller Lift.
Landing on the streaming service on Jan. 12, F. Gary Gray’s feature centers on Cyrus Whitaker (Hart), the leader of an international heist team who gets enlisted to steal $500 million in gold from a mid-air passenger plane before the fortune ends up in the wrong hands. Lift co-stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula Corberó, Billy Magnussen, Jacob Batalon, Jean Reno and Sam Worthington.
The trailer shows Hart explaining the near-impossible task to his cohorts and warning that they’ll land in prison if they don’t succeed. “Half a billion in gold is on its way to a terrorist cell,” he says. “We gotta steal it mid-flight, 40,000 feet in the air.”
Hart does his best to formulate a perfect plan, although numerous complications mean that the crew may have to improvise and wing it. “All right then, let’s show them what true artistry looks like,” he says at a pivotal moment.
Gray (The Fate of the Furious, The Italian Job) directs from a script by Daniel Kunka. Hart, Bryan Smiley, Simon Kinberg, Audrey Chon, Matt Reeves and Adam Kassan serve as producers.
Netflix debuted the trailer Sunday during Fox Sports America’s Game of the Week between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. The segment involved Eagles mascot Swoop swiping the video from the streaming service’s offices.
Hart starred opposite Mark Wahlberg for Netflix in last year’s buddy-comedy film Me Time and is set to appear in Eli Roth’s forthcoming big-screen adaptation of the popular video game franchise Borderlands, due to hit theaters in summer of 2024 from Lionsgate.