Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, and Matthew McConaughey Will Rescue Baghdad in 3D

True-life American military tales are gunning for a real resurgence lately ? what with Ben Affleck?s Argo, Kathryn Bigelow?s Zero Dark Thirty, and the Robert Pattinson-starring Mission: Blacklist ? and it looks like that means we?re not safe from a 3D take on such projects. A morning press release out of the Cannes Film Festival (oh, and heads up, get ready for a metric ton of these in the coming days) reveals that Freedom Films and Paradox Entertainment have made a deal to produce the ?epic action pic Thunder Run,? based on the book ?Thunder Run ? The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad.?

In case that title doesn?t quite clue you in on the film?s subject matter, it will detail ?the untold story of the dangerous and bloody capture of Baghdad by American Forces at the onset of the Iraq War. In April 2003, three battalions and fewer than a thousand men launched a violent thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the heart of a city of five million, igniting a three-day blitzkrieg, which military professionals often refer to as a lightning strike, or ?thunder run.??

Despite the fact that the film?s producers are already flashing about its 3D bent and terming it an ?epic,? Thunder Run is coming at us (really, right at our faces) with a solid action pedigree. Simon West (The Expendables 2, Con Air) will direct from a script by Robert Port and Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), who are adapting from the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Zucchino. And, fine, let?s just get to it ? this 3D military action epic whiz-bang will star Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, and Matthew McConaughey.

There?s no word yet on the actors? exact roles, but it?s safe to assume they?ll all just be badasses.

The press release also informs us that VFX production has already begun on the CG 3D film, with principal photography set to start this summer. Thunder Run will have a wide release and Hyde Park International is handling sales at Cannes for the film.

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