Cinematic adaptions of videogames were always ropey but that era might be ending. The likes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s and The Last of Us TV show have shown creators are taking these adaptions far more seriously. The next major one on the horizon is the Gears of War movie, which Netflix has said is underway.
One of Microsoft’s biggest franchises on Xbox, a Gears of War movie had been planned back in 2016 by Universal. Netflix then bought it with development confirmed last year. But then everything went quiet and with the recent strike action going, that’s also hindered production.
However, as Collider reports, Netflix’s Head of Film Scott Stuber is very much invested in the project. He was a producer on the original and so now that it has come full circle he understands the importance of getting it right. “As you know, that kind of medium, they don’t translate always, and historically, as an industry, we’ve screwed it up quite a bit,” he explained.
Netflix’s Gears of War Movie
The film is still a long way off though. Crucially, they’re still awaiting scripts.
“We haven’t even got them. We’ve done long treatments. There’s a lot of people that we wanna make sure feel good. Inevitably, when you’re making these, first and foremost, you gotta make sure the fan base is good, right?” Stuber told Collider. “So you’re working with the creators, you’re working with the teams who make the games. We’ve worked out a lot of that, so now we’ve got great writers, and I feel like, hopefully, we’ll be on the road once we get those drafts.”
Thankfully, the writers he speaks of include Dune screenwriter Jon Spaihts. So the movie should be in good hands.
When it comes to who’ll lead the cast as Marcus Fenix nobody has been confirmed just yet. That’s not to say there isn’t a front-runner, or more precisely Dune and Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista heavily pitching for the role.
The Gears of War game is set in a sci-fi universe where humanity has relocated to a planet called Sera. Unfortunately for the inhabitants, they are attacked by a subterranean alien race called the Locust Horde. Fenix is part of a contingent of soldiers (called Gears) who work for the human COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments). All the games revolve around this war, so expect something similar for the movie.
Do you think they’ll do a decent job? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
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