What if the biggest obstacle in a bank robbery wasn’t security, but knowing whom to trust? That’s the question at the heart of The Take, Netflix’s upcoming heist thriller starring Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Directed by Fernando Meirelles, the film now has a confirmed release date of January 15, 2027, alongside its first official images.
Previously known as Here Comes the Flood, the movie promises more than an elaborate robbery. Its central mystery unfolds through a single character’s perspective, meaning audiences will have to navigate every deception without knowing more than the man caught in the middle.
The Take arrives on Netflix and in select theaters in January 2027
Netflix has scheduled The Take for January 15, 2027, with a release planned for both its streaming platform and select theaters. The announcement also brings the first official look at the production, including new Netflix stills and key art.
These images were unveiled in an exclusive first look published by Entertainment Weekly on November 9, 2026. The feature also reveals how Meirelles and his leading actors approached a story built around manipulation, divided loyalties and unexpected reversals.
For anyone keeping track of the production under its original name, Here Comes the Flood, the change to The Take is worth noting. The new title places the robbery itself in the foreground, although the director’s comments suggest that the emotional consequences may prove just as important.
Here are the confirmed details:
- Title: The Take
- Former title: Here Comes the Flood
- Director: Fernando Meirelles (City of God)
- Writer: Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
- Leading cast: Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones
- Additional cast: Danai Gurira, Moisés Arias, Justin Kirk and Sean Harris
- Release date: January 15, 2027
- Platform and distribution: Netflix and select theaters
The simultaneous streaming and limited theatrical plans also make this another notable entry in Netflix’s upcoming film calendar. Netflix also has a separate theatrical strategy for The Adventures of Cliff Booth, another major Netflix movie heading to theaters, highlighting how its biggest film projects can reach audiences beyond home streaming.
The Take follows a former soldier who cannot trust his own allies
At the center of the story is Noah, a former Army captain struggling to find his footing in civilian life. His circumstances change when Christian Carter, a charismatic and calculating criminal, approaches him with a proposal to rob Manhattan’s richest bank.
However, this isn’t simply a question of whether Noah can pull off the job. His girlfriend, Rose, works as a teller at the targeted bank, placing his relationship directly inside Carter’s dangerous scheme. With time running out and competing interests emerging, Noah must determine which people are genuinely on his side.
The film’s official premise revolves around a bank guard, a teller and a master thief becoming entangled in a deadly sequence of cons and double crosses. That setup creates a more personal conflict than a conventional story about criminals attempting to defeat a security system.
The three central characters are:
- Noah — Robert Pattinson: A former Army captain adjusting to civilian life who becomes involved in Carter’s plan. He has difficulty trusting others, although his own behavior is not always honest.
- Christian Carter — Denzel Washington: A charismatic master thief with a precise, mathematical mind. He manipulates those around him and considers himself intellectually superior to everyone else.
- Rose — Daisy Edgar-Jones: Noah’s girlfriend and a bank teller at the Manhattan institution targeted for the robbery. Her position makes the heist deeply personal for Noah.
Crucially, Noah is not presented as an entirely dependable hero. Pattinson describes him as someone suspicious of other people’s intentions while being capable of deception himself. That contradiction could make even his apparently straightforward decisions difficult for viewers to interpret.
Fernando Meirelles turns the robbery into a psychological guessing game
Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated Brazilian filmmaker behind 2002’s City of God, approached this project with an unusual question. After reading Simon Kinberg’s screenplay, he wasn’t immediately certain whether he was dealing with a traditional heist movie or a psychological drama driven by a love story.
That uncertainty became part of the film’s identity. Although the director revisited crime classics including Heat, Point Break, The Killing and Dog Day Afternoon while preparing, he identifies a crucial distinction between those movies and his own approach.
Everything in The Take is presented exclusively through Noah’s point of view. Audiences only discover information when Noah does, without separate scenes explaining what other characters are secretly planning. Consequently, every new revelation has the potential to change how earlier events are understood.
Meirelles suggests that the story continues to surprise viewers until its final moments, with the complete picture becoming clear only during the last ten seconds. It’s an ambitious promise, particularly for a genre where audiences often expect to see how the robbery has been engineered before its final complications emerge.
Another interesting detail concerns the editing process. In an earlier version of the film, Noah appeared more insecure and hesitant. Meirelles and his team subsequently favored a more confident interpretation, using alternative performances Pattinson had already delivered during filming.
That decision matters because Noah is the audience’s only window into the story. A more self-assured protagonist can make questionable choices seem convincing, even when viewers have reason to suspect that something is wrong. Rather than explaining the mystery from several angles, the movie appears designed to make us share his uncertainty.
The cast brings different motivations to a story built on deception
For Robert Pattinson, the appeal went beyond the screenplay’s twists. He considers opportunities like this relatively rare and was particularly enthusiastic about working with Denzel Washington, an actor who helped inspire his own career choice.
Pattinson also recalls Washington improvising extensively during their scenes together. That creative freedom is especially intriguing given the relationship between their characters: Carter is supposed to control the situation, while Noah must constantly judge whether he is being manipulated.
Washington, meanwhile, sees Carter as more than a conventional criminal mastermind. He describes him as a frustrated musician whose mathematical precision shapes the way he thinks. Carter believes he is cleverer than everyone around him and uses that confidence to pursue his objectives, regardless of whom he needs to deceive.
At this stage of his career, Washington has emphasized his interest in delivering his strongest work alongside outstanding filmmakers. His collaboration with Meirelles therefore offers another reason to watch how the character develops beyond the familiar image of a sophisticated thief.
The Take is keeping its biggest secrets for release day
Daisy Edgar-Jones has been more guarded about Rose, deliberately avoiding details that could undermine the film’s surprises. Her reluctance makes sense for a story in which even seemingly simple relationships may carry hidden complications.
For Netflix thriller fans, the upcoming slate also includes Trinity, another suspense-driven Netflix production arriving this December. While the projects have different premises, both offer viewers another reason to keep an eye on the platform’s forthcoming thrillers.
Ultimately, The Take has an intriguing advantage over a typical bank robbery story: its mystery depends as much on the people involved as on the crime itself. The first images and January 15, 2027 release date provide a clearer picture of Netflix’s plans, but the most important answers are deliberately being saved for the film. Whether Noah can recognize the truth before it is too late may be the real question worth watching.
Creator of the website, Pokemon trainer by nature. Trying to report on everything related to the world of video games, series and movies. Yu-Gi-Oh is my weakness, collecting cards since the dawn of time.
