These days, Ethan Hawke just kind of makes movies behind my back — as in, almost literally makes movies behind my back — so it’s almost a non-surprise when, oh, Warner Bros. are releasing something of his in less than a year. That film, in this instance, is Getaway, which Deadline tells us is a Joel Silver-produced action-thriller starring Hawke as a washed up racer whose kidnapped wife acts as an impetus to get back in the car and track down some lowlifes. Expect it to hit on August 30th, 2013.

Courtney Solomon and Yaron Levy directed from a screenplay by Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker, while Selena Gomez will co-star with Jon Voight; the former is playing a computer hacker at the hero’s side, while the latter has been cast as the man behind the crime. Recently, Hawke said this project shares a couple of traits with films such as Sam Peckinpah‘s The Getaway or Bullitt, but is “a nod” to the 1972 film and not, as the title would clearly suggest, a remake. Other than that much, I’m completely in the dark here.

A bit of similar news also arrives from Deadline, who report that Antoine Fuqua‘s White House actioner, Olympus Has Fallen, was acquired by FilmDistrict and will hit on April 5th, 2013. Not much is significant about this news, all told, except to note that it’s now ahead of Roland Emmerich‘s higher-budgeted, remarkably similar Channing Tatum-starrer, White House Down.

This Gerard Butler vehicle has had something of a battle with the other film, and, in spite of its decent cast — Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Robert Forster, and Ashley Judd — always felt like a weird, cynical attempt to beat the other guy. Now that it has a fairly decent one-up on Emmerich‘s film, though, this writer is truly (and bizarrely) curious as to how the numbers game will play out here. Maybe Tatum and Butler can square off in the ring over this one? That would probably be more entertaining than either film.

Finally, Variety have learned that Millennium are buying rights to Upside Down, a long-toiling sci-fi picture directed by Juan Diego Solanas and starring Jim Sturgess & Kirsten Dunst. The plan calls for a 2013 opening — unspecified, but that’s enough by this point — in both 2D and 3D.

Back in January, we saw a trailer that gave the impression of a visually arresting-but-uncommercial yarn, something which leads me to think Upside Down isn’t getting wide exposure when the proper time comes. Again, though: any decent chance to see a film I’m intensely curious about won’t nor should be taken with a grain of salt.

Do you like the gist of Getaway? How will the date for Olympus Has Fallen affect White House Down? Will Upside Down be on your radar?