The first trailer for director Dito Montiel’s (Fighting) new film Empire State has been released online, but despite the impressive lead cast, the film is actually skipping a theatrical release and going direct-to-DVD.  The crime drama stars Dwayne Johnson and Liam Hemsworth and is based on the true story of a 1982 NYC armored car company robbery that was thought to be the largest cash heist in U.S. history.  Hemsworth and Michael Angarano play two childhood friends who plan to rob an armored car depository, while Johnson plays the NYPD detective out to bring them down. The trailer doesn’t look that bad and Johnson has basically been box office steroids this year having opened three films at number one and another at number two (Snitch), so I’m not sure why Empire State was denied a theatrical release.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Emma Roberts, Nikki Reed, Chris Diamantopoulos, James Ransone, Shenae Grimes, and Jerry Ferrara.  Empire State will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 3rd.

Via The Film Stage.

Here’s the official synopsis for Empire State:

After failing to get into the police academy, Chris Potamitis (Liam Hemsworth), settles for a security guard job with the EMPIRE STATE Armored Truck Company. Chris makes the mistake of mentioning the company's lax security to his best friend, Eddie (Michael Angarano), and is soon unwittingly drawn into an elaborate scheme to rob the abundant amounts of cash being stored there - resulting in the largest cash heist in U.S. History. As the stakes continue to rise, Chris and Eddie must outwit James Ransone (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), the veteran NYPD Detective that is hot on their trail, as well as the local crime bosses that want to know who pulled a job on their turf, or suffer the consequences.