Gears of War Netflix Movie Hires John Wick, Deadpool 2 Director

Netflix’s Gears of War movie is moving forward with Deadpool 2 and John Wick director David Leitch. While superhero movies dominated the 2000s and 2010s, it seems like video games are the next big thing for adaptations. There’s a wealth of IP to mine for the big and small screen, franchises that already have a lot of fans baked in, but are also easy to find new ones via new mediums. The Last of Us really kicked off this new era of adaptations by being a faithful adaptation that earned critical acclaim, awards, and a huge amount of viewership. Now, everyone is trying to figure out what the next Last of Us could be.

There has been varying successes across the industry with other gaming adaptations, but Netflix is setting its sights on Gears of War. The film has been in development for a few years now and it looks like it may be starting to escape development hell as Deadpool 2, John Wick, and Bullet Train director David Leitch is in talks to direct the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dune series co-writer Jon Spaihts is penning the script for the Gears of War movie, but no stars are currently attached to the project. Dave Bautista has campaigned to be in Gears of War, but it remains to be seen if the stars will align for that to happen.

As of right now, no plot details have been revealed, but it seems likely that the movie would follow the story of the games. There are other stories that could be told in the Gears of War universe, but it would make sense to follow the characters that fans love the most. Xbox has been trying to make a Gears of War movie for many, many years with the help of different studios. However, this is the furthest anyone has come to pulling it off. Some speculated that Netflix may recruit Zack Snyder to adapt Gears of War as he has not only voiced interest, but his violent style seemed like it would actually be a perfect fit for this series. However, it seems Netflix has decided to go with someone whose filmography isn’t as… divisive.

All of this comes as Xbox prepares to bring Gears of War to PS5 later this summer with a brand new remaster of the game. This will be a historic moment as it will see one of Xbox’s tentpole franchises going to a new platform for the first time. A new Gears of War prequel game is also in the works, so it’s possible that Xbox is trying to generate new hype for the series by bringing the IP to new audiences on other platforms and in other mediums such as film.