Summary
Bring out your Lancers and Hammers of Dawn, because theGears of Warfilm is back on track. Well, they’ve found a director to helm the adaptation, at least, which is more than they’ve had for years.
A film adaptation of theGears of Warfranchise has been kicking around for nearly two decades now, with New Line Cinema first bagging the rights way back in 2007. Since then, numerous directors and production houses have boarded and left the project over the years, leaving fans wondering if the film would forever be stuck in a state of development hell. Out of seemingly nowhere in November 2022,Netflix announcedthey were teaming with the video game creatives at The Coalition to finally bring aGears of Warmovie to the streaming masses. Well, it took two and a half years for the streaming giant to gain serious traction on the film, but a director was just attached to the project, and it’s a major name that action fans will be excited about.
According to an exclusive fromThe Hollywood Reporter,David Leitch has signed on to direct Netflix’sGears of Warfilm adaptation.Leitch and his wife/producing partner Kelly McCormack are set to produce the film, which is being written byDuneco-writer Jon Spaihts. Given that all this news is just coming out, it’s clear that theGears of Warmovie is years away from being finished, but after eons of no concrete updates, this is a good sign for fans of the gaming franchise. WithGears of War: E-Daycoming to consoles and PC sometime in the relatively near future, it’s clear that theGearsseries as a whole is back in a big way.
Nabbing David Leitch To DirectGears of WarIs A Big Win For Netflix And The Coalition
Say what you want about the overall quality ofDavid Leitch’s filmography, it’s clear that he helms blockbusters that people enjoy watching. After years of serving as a second unit director on huge projects likeThe Wolverine,Jurassic World, andCaptain America: Civil War, Letich served as an uncredited co-director onJohn Wick. Leitch followed that up with the one-two punch ofAtomic BlondeandDeadpool 2in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Subsequently, Leitch was entrusted with theFast & FuriousspinoffHobbs & Shaw, directed Brad Pitt inBullet Train, and swung for the fences withThe Fall Guy.
While picking quality scripts to bring to the big screen might not be Leitch’s forte, the mancertainly knows his way around an action sequence. Leitch has directly worked on three of the biggest action franchises of the last decade—the MCU,John Wick, andFast & Furious—which has to count for something. It’s not as ifGears of Warwill need a deft directorial hand to carry across complex drama or off-the-wall comedic scenes.Gearsis about as straightforward as an action franchise can possibly get.
As such, Leitch seems to be a home run choice to direct aGears of Waradaptation for Netflix. Of course, this assumes that the project comes to fruition this time around.
