Alec Baldwin, Jeremy Piven Star in Action Thriller
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Panoramic Pictures (the mainstream label of faith-and-family studio Pinnacle Peak Pictures) began production on action thriller Panic Button, starring Oscar nominee Alec Baldwin, 3x Emmy winner Jeremy Piven, David A.R. White, and Leven Rambin.
- Juan Boffill directs from a screenplay by Matthew Eason and Tommy Blaze; the plot follows a meticulously cautious security chief (White) framed for murder who evades FBI agents played by Baldwin and Rambin, with Piven as his loyal business partner and Ocean White as his daughter.
- Steven Bauer rounds out the cast as a Russian mob leader pursuing the protagonist; Tommy Blaze produces with EPs David Schmidt, Roger Neal, and Elizabeth Travis.
- Production is currently shooting across Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and South Carolina, with Boffill doubling as the film's stunt coordinator.
- Boffill described the film as 'very much in the tradition of The Fugitive and Taken — a wrongfully accused man with nowhere to turn, racing against time to clear his name and stay alive.'
- Pinnacle Peak Pictures, the faith-and-family studio behind the God's Not Dead franchise, launched Panoramic Pictures as its mainstream label; the God's Not Dead films have grossed in excess of $100 million worldwide.
- Reader commenters on the announcement were sharply skeptical of Baldwin's casting, with one writing 'anything with Alec Baldwin is an automatic skip' and another quipping 'Someone's got bills to pay… Yikes.'
Why it matters: Pinnacle Peak Pictures — best known for the faith-oriented *God's Not Dead* franchise ($100M+ worldwide gross) — is signaling a pivot into secular mainstream thrillers via its new Panoramic Pictures label, and it has recruited A-list names (Baldwin, Piven) to anchor the effort; with Boffill working from a *Fugitive*/*Taken*-style wrong-man template, the project tests whether the company's audience and casting reach can extend beyond its church-festival base.
