WARDRIVER to World Premiere in Competition at the 2026 Cinequest Film Festival

The action-thriller stars Dane DeHaan and Sasha Calle

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, February 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Avenue announced today that its highly anticipated action-thriller, WARDRIVER, will make its world premiere in competition at the 2026 Cinequest Film Festival. The film will premiere in the festival’s “Thrills” section on March 14, 2026, at the California Theater in San Jose, followed by an additional screening on March 16 at The Alamo Drafthouse in San Jose.

“When I first read the script, I felt an immediate pulse—dark, obsessive, and intimate. It had that raw Taxi Driver energy I’ve always loved, and as someone who’s often pegged for female-driven narratives, I was excited to dive into a story centered on a morally gray male lead. I saw an opportunity to explore something unexpected: a character study built on restraint, guilt, and quiet delusion," said director Rebecca Thomas.

In the film, Cole (Dane DeHaan) prowls the city “Wardriving”—hacking from his car and stealing on the move. He convinces himself no one gets hurt, until black-market tech predator Oscar (Mamoudou Athie) forces him into a million-dollar cyber-heist. The job exposes a mob lawyer (Jeffrey Donovan) using Sarah (Sasha Calle) to launder his fortune. As bullets fly and betrayals close in, Cole must risk everything to return the money, protect Sarah, and survive a deadly game of cat-and-mouse where every line of code could be his last.

WARDRIVER is in select theaters March 20, 2026 and everywhere on digital March 27, 2026.

For more information on tickets, please click here.
Watch the trailer here.
Additional film assets here.

SCREENINGS:
● World Premiere: March 14, 2026, at the California Theater

ABOUT WARDRIVER:
Directed by Rebecca Thomas and written by Daniel Casey, WARDRIVER stars Dane DeHaan and Sasha Calle, with Mamoudou Athie and Jeffrey Donovan. Produced by David M. Wulf, Trevor White, Tim White, Arianne Fraser, Delphine Perrier. Producers Daniel Casey and Dane DeHaan. Executive producers Kevin Matusow, Lee Broda, Santosh Govindaraju, Jack Lehr, Jason Olsen, Morgan Magleby. Director of Photography Htat Htut; Editor Kristi Shimek; Production designer Gabriel Jessop; costume designer Emerson Alvarez; music by Mark Hardison Garbett; Casting by Jennifer Buster. The Avenue and Highland Film Group present a Red Line Entertainment presentation of a Star Thrower Entertainment production.

ABOUT THE AVENUE:
Launched in 2020, The Avenue is HFG’s US distribution division and handles all aspects of distribution, from theatrical through home entertainment to television, SVOD and AVOD. The Avenue is dedicated to partnering with filmmakers and leading them into innovative ways of marketing and distribution so their stories can reach the widest audience. The Avenue has a partnership with Paramount Global to handle Blu-ray™, DVD, VOD, and Digital distribution. Films released under The Avenue label are a combination of film titles from Highland Film Group as well as third party acquisitions.

In 2025, The Avenue has released the horror-thriller Locked produced by Sam Raimi and starring Bill Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins and Simon West’s action-comedy Old Guy starring Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu and Cooper Hoffman, which opened the Newport Beach Film Festival. Recent releases include William Eubank’s action thriller Land of Bad starring Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth released on 1,300 screens in February 2024 and recently surged to the #1 spot on Netflix in the US; Adam Cooper’s crime thriller Sleeping Dogs starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan which just took the #1 spot on Hulu in the US; Rod Blackhurst’s Tribeca Film Festival and Deauville title Blood For Dust starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington and Josh Lucas; Rusty Cundieff’s sci-fi thriller 57 Seconds starring Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson; Adrian Grünberg’s shark actioner The Black Demon starring Josh Lucas; and Petr Jákl’s sweeping historical action epic Medieval starring Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe and Sir Michael Caine. The first feature film title released under the new stand-alone distribution banner was the martial arts sci-fi film Jiu Jitsu starring Academy Award^® winner Nicolas Cage and Frank Grillo, followed by Renny Harlin’s The Misfits, starring Pierce Brosnan, Nick Cannon and Tim Roth.

ABOUT CINEQUEST:
Cinequest empowers, discovers, and showcases great film, media, creativity, and technology. Cinequest engages artists and their creations with audiences—forging community, illumination, and joy. Based in the Silicon Valley, Cinequest's powerful integration of creativity and technology inspires and transforms lives. Cinquest produces the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, Cinejoy Virtual Festival, and Picture The Possibilities youth programs.

Veronica M. Buenrostro
Magnova PR
+1 323-691-0926
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