EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to The Super, the Stephan Rick-directed genre thriller that stars Top Gun 2‘s Val Kilmer and Chicago P.D.‘s Patrick John Flueger. The film was scripted by Black Swan’s John J. McLaughlin based on an idea by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, who produced through his company Wolf Entertainment alongside Tom Thayer, Patrick Rizzotti and Brett Forbes. Saban Films has set an October 19 release and the film should play through Halloween and on VOD.

The Super centers on the mysterious disappearance of several tenants at a luxury New York City apartment building. Phil Lodge (Flueger), the building’s new superintendent and a former NYPD officer, immediately suspects Walter (Kilmer), the strange maintenance man. With his daughters’ lives on the line, Phil must decipher the cryptic riddles in which Walter speaks to solve the disappearances before it’s too late.

Deal comes as The Meg chomped its way to top slot in the summer box office, over 20 years since I recall first writing about the novel being set up for a movie adaptation. That’s nothing compared to The Super, which Wolf thought up well before he created an industry in police procedural dramas.

Wolf Entertainment

“It was 45 years ago that I came up with this, back when I was in the advertising business,” he told Deadline. “All I know is, I had the same image in my head back then, that everybody has known a creepy super, and the image of the legs akimbo and the ring of keys on his chest, and the tag line, ‘He Has Your Keys.’ This consistently seemed to disturb people. When I told my daughter about this, she said, ‘Oh, that is gross. I had a super, and I didn’t suspect, I knew he was going through my underwear drawer.’ I said, ‘Gee, thanks,’ but that’s the inherent reaction.” Wolf said he long had his eye on Flueger, before he got the role in Chicago P.D., but the film is helped by that series being back on the air when the movie opens, and also be the presence of Kilmer, who did a memorable interview with Deadline when he wrapped the film.

“The Super marks a return to form for Val Kilmer, who delivers a truly menacing performance,” said Saban Films’ Bill Bromiley, who brokered the deal for Saban with Jonathan Saba, with Endeavor Content and Forbes repping the filmmakers.

Saban Films recently acquired a slew of films out of the Cannes Film Festival, including Between Worlds starring Nicolas Cage; the anthology Berlin, I Love You with Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley and Jim Sturgess; the Gerard Butler starrer Keepers; and David L.G. Hughes’ Viking Destiny.