Gears of War 4 launches next Tuesday, so the series is enjoying some time in the spotlight again. It looks like this will be the beginning of a trend, though, if today’s news is any indication.
Announced on a Gears-focused livestream, it appears that a Gears of War movie will be heading to theaters in the future. This news was confirmed by Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, on Twitter shortly after the announcement. It appears, then, that the news is legitimate and not just an offhand remark.
This comes as a surprise, after Universal’s very own Warcraft failed to generate much enthusiasm, both at the box office and on the critical front. One would think they’d be hesitant to bankroll another videogame-based movie, but apparently that’s not the case.
No real information has come out other than this announcement. That means no release date, director, cast, writer, or anything along those lines. Hopefully, they’ll be able to get someone who can strike the franchise’s signature balance of grim philosophizing and dunderheaded action.
It’s worth nothing that a Gears movie has been in development for almost a decade at this point. To put it bluntly, it’s been in development hell for quite some time, and most people had thrown it on the pile of video game movies doomed to pre-production. However, for Microsoft to announce it during a stream means that there’s probably some significant progress that’s been made. While it still is just a vague tease, it’s a vague tease given out to millions of people at once, on a live a broadcast no less. There’s a strong likelihood that it’ll actually come out, sooner or later.
Video game movies seem to be enjoying (?) a return to prominence, with last year’s Agent 47 and Pixels, plus this year’s Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed. One can only hope that, at some point, we’ll actually get one that’s worth shelling out money for.
Hopefully, Gears of War may be that movie.
