In 2006, the world was treated to the third-person, action video game “Gears of War.” At the time, it had one of the most cinematic trailers in video game history set to the Gary Jules cover of the song, “Mad World.” it’s only fitting that things are coming back full circle for the franchise as it gets its own film adaptation to bring all that cinematic flair to the world of film. We originally reported on the movie being announced back in 2022 when Netflix grabbed the rights to make it. Since then, we haven’t learned too much more information, but now we have a director for the project!
Our hopes for a legitimately good “Gears of War” film were lifted when Jon Spahits (“Dune: Part One“) was set to write the screenplay. The dystopian science-fiction setting of “Gears of War” is vastly different that that of “Dune,” but has its own epic scale of war, monstrosities, and the struggle for humanity’s survival. It’s not quite space opera, but its large scale conflict with incredibly high stakes. It’s also high intensity, extreme action, so who better to direct than David Leitch.
Leitch cut his directorial teeth working with Chad Stahelski on the first “John Wick.” Since then, Leitch has brought us “Atomic Blonde,” “Deadpool 2,” and “The Fall Guy.” He’ll get to direct the adventures of Marcus Fenix and company as they wield their chainsaw bayonetted assault rifles against the Locust hordes. He’ll have his work cut out for him as “Gears of War” hasn’t seen a proper mainline release since 2019. But the franchise remains one of Microsoft’s most popular titles.
Netflix plans to produce the live-action film as part of a franchise, including an animated series. They’re also working in partnership with The Coalition, the development team behind the games. While we don’t know anything more about the upcoming film in terms of casting or a release date, we expect to hear more about this highly anticipated project in the months to come.
And, you know, Dave Bautista over here continuing to tease fans with his desire to lead the cast.
