Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz Reunite for Movie "Day Drinker"

Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz are set to reunite on the big screen in Lionsgate‘s "Day Drinker" from director Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man).

"Day Drinker" —  first announced in March with Sydney Sweeney said to be starring opposite Depp — marks Depp’s first big studio outing since the resolution of his defamation case against Amber Heard in 2022.

The project witnesses the pair’s fourth collaboration, on the heels of "Blow", "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", and "Murder on the Orient Express". 

Based on an original spec screenplay by Zach Dean, "Day Drinker" follows a cruise ship bartender meeting a mysterious day drinker — only for both of them to find themselves entangled in a criminal underbelly, and connected in unexpected ways. 

Producers include Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee (John Wick franchise), Adam Kolbrenner, and Dean. 

30West will exec produce the project, with Lionsgate launching international sales at AFM. Chelsea Kujawa is overseeing the project for Lionsgate, for whom Dan Freedman negotiated deals.

In a statement on the project, Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said, “Day Drinker combines a highly commercial concept with wildly outrageous twists and turns all set in an incredible world, and there is no better filmmaker than Marc or two more perfectly cast actors than Johnny and Penélope to bring that world to life.”

One of Hollywood’s most bankable and in-demand stars before his prior legal troubles, Depp’s last studio release was "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" in 2018. 

The Warner Bros franchise parted ways with Depp and recast Mads Mikkelsen in his role as dark wizard Grindelwald in the third installment "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore "after he lost a 2020 UK libel trial involving abuse allegations made by ex-wife Amber Heard. 

Depp later went on to win a defamation trial against Heard in the U.S., and in recent years, he’s been seen in the Cannes-premiering "Jeanne du Barry", along with indie titles "Minamata", "Waiting for the Barbarians", and "City of Lies".