Credit: Gears of War
Netflix continues to dive deep into the pool of video game adaptations. Thus far, Arcane and The Witcher have been a massive success for the streaming network, though, given the recent news of Henry Cavill dropping out of the series following season three, it should be interesting to see how many fans stay on board following his departure. Of course, Netflix has also had some misfires, such as the recent Resident Evil series that was canceled shortly after its first season release. However, when done right, video game adaptations can be a huge profit, and the streaming service has picked up one of the most popular Xbox franchises, Gears of War.
Netflix themselves tweeted out the exciting news, “Gears of War was released 16 years ago today, and to mark the occasion, Netflix has partnered with The Coalition to adapt the @Gearsof War video game saga into a live-action feature film, followed by an adult animated series – with the potential for more stories to follow!”
Credit: Gears of War
Before the announcement, Gears of War had been in development hell since 2007, when New Line Cinema originally planned to develop a feature film. It was later transferred over to Universal Pictures, but nothing ever came of it. There’s no word on when the actual film will drop, but if done right, Gears of War could turn out to be the best video game adaptation to date. To recall, the original trilogy is about the ongoing battle between humanity and the subterranean reptilian hominids known as the Locust Horde in the world of Sera. At the moment, the cast hasn’t been attached to the project, though one man has made it clear that he would love to do a Gears of War movie: Dave Bautista.
The Guardians of the Galaxy actor has made it no secret that he wants to play Marcus Fenix in a Gears of War movie, and even turned down a role in the Fast and the Furious to simply pitch an idea for the film, “I don’t make any pretense about it,” Batista told Collider. “I had a chance to get a meeting at WB, they were talking to me about this and that, and I said ‘hey, let’s talk about Bane.’ That happened to me one other time in my career. They wanted to talk to me about Fast and the Furious, and I said ‘I’m not interested, let’s talk about [Gears of War character] Marcus Fenix.”
Credit: Gears of War
Bautista would be the perfect guy for Marcus Fenix. He clearly has the size and build for the character (and he somewhat looks like him), but the actor has shown in roles such as Blade Runner 2049 that he can be more than just a musclebound heavy in films. Bautista has previously starred in the Netflix exclusive Army of the Dead and is a part of the star-studded cast of Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. While it’s not confirmed whether the movie or animated series will come out first, it would be surprising if the former wasn’t first. Obviously, Netflix wants to make sure that they have a hit on their hands and to justify the big budget price tag that Gears of War will possibly come with.
Hopefully, the writer and director learned from the mistake that the recent Resident Evil series made, which was by veering away from the source material more often than not. Granted, staying extremely close to the source material doesn’t automatically guarantee success, but there’s a reason most fans loathe the live-action Resident Evil franchise. Gears Tactics was the last game that came out in the series, though there’s another one in development. As always, we’ll keep you informed about the Gears of War adaptations when more news comes out.
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