Relativity Media has acquired the film “Machine Gun Preacher.” The film is directed by DGA and Golden Globe-nominee Marc Forster and written by Jason Keller and stars Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, Michael Shannon, Madeline Carroll and up-and-comer Souleymane Sy Savane. The film will be released in Los Angeles and New York September 23. After the release in L.A. and New York, the film will be released in more venues in the following weeks.

“This is a powerful story, and we feel strongly that it is one audiences need to see,” said Tucker Tooley Relativity’s President of Worldwide Production. “Forster once again proves that he is among the best directors of our time and Butler delivers a career-defining performance bolstered by a rock solid supporting cast.”

“The film is blessed to have two passionate partners in Relativity and Lionsgate,” said Forster. “I’m excited to be working with both companies to bring the incredible story of Sam Childers to the world. I’m really proud of my cast, and all of their hard work in making this movie that means so much to all of us personally.”

“We have a longstanding relationship with Marc, and given that together we felt it was best for the film to be released domestically this year, we are very happy that Relativity is able to handle it,” said Mike Paseornek, Lionsgate’s President of Motion Picture Production and Development.

Here’s the official synopsis of the film:

“Machine Gun Preacher” is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who finds faith leading him on a path to East Africa. Shocked by the mayhem in Sudan, Childers becomes a crusader for hundreds of refugee children. Inspired to create a safe haven for the multitudes fleeing enslavement by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, he restores peace to their lives and eventually his own.