Chopper – The Eric Bana crime thriller is returning to UK cinemas

Vertigo Releasing has announced the UK re-release of Chopper, based on the real-life exploits of Australia’s most infamous criminal, Mark ‘Chopper’ Read. The brand new remastered version will be released in key cinemas and on digital platforms on March 25th 2022.

The no-holds barred story of the notorious Aussie criminal ‘Chopper’ Read. Told in flashback as Read serves one of his many prison sentences, this extreme biography charts the brutal carnage and wicked sense of humour of a man who allegedly committed nineteen vicious murders and got away with it. Mixing startling facts from his nine best selling books, including How To Shoot Friends And Influence People, with stylish pulp fiction, it paints an astonishing portrait of a larger-than-life legend.

CHOPPER is the award-winning smash hit debut from writer-director Andrew Dominik, who went on to helm Brad Pitt starrer The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Mindhunter and the forthcoming Marilyn Monroe-inspired Blonde with Ana de Armas. It features Eric Bana (Munich, Dirty John) in his iconic breakout role. The Australian crime masterpiece is based on the bestselling biographies of the notorious ‘celebrity’ gangster, that nowadays would surely be the subject of an everyone-is-talking-about Netflix docuseries. Critically acclaimed upon release, it went on to become a firm home video favourite in the early 2000s.

The film details Mark Read’s life in and out of prison, including all of the shootings, stabbings, drugs and mayhem that it involved. Playing the titular role, Eric Bana – complete with gold teeth, tattoos and a shotgun – is mesmeric and truly “unforgettable” (Roger Ebert). Dominik’s slick and assured film has infectious energy and swagger to spare.

Rupert Preston, CEO of Vertigo Releasing, distributed CHOPPER in the UK and Ireland during its original release. Preston said, “CHOPPER is a stone-cold classic movie that launched the careers of some incredible talent. What an exciting opportunity it is to re-launch it for a whole new generation of film-lovers”.

Riotously rude and packed with quotable dialogue (“Beethoven had his critics too, Keith, see if you can name three of them”), CHOPPER is also darkly disturbing, and includes some brutal, wince-inducing violence. This stone-cold crime classic now looks better than ever, digitally remastered from the original 35mm print – guaranteed to “knock the fluff off [your] cappuccino!” (Chopper).