The Gears of War movie now has a writer. F. Scott Frazier, writer of movies like Collide and xXx: Return of Xander Cage signed onto the Universal Pictures project.
The Wrap reports that Universal has tapped Frazier’s talents for the planned movie based on Microsoft’s IP. Frazier wrote and penned the screenplay for 2013’s The Numbers Station and 2016’s Collide. Rod Fergusson, head of Gears of War developer The Coalition, retweeted the news, saying, “y’all said you wanted Gears movie news, right?”
Universal Pictures originally got the movie rights for the Gears of War franchise in 2016. Dylan Clark and Fergusson are producing the movie for Dylan Clark Productions. Clark produced the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy, the Tom Cruise-led Oblivion, and is also producing the upcoming Batman reboot.
It was reported that Dave Bautista (Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy) was pursuing the lead role in the Gears movie. The pro wrestler, MMA fighter, and actor fits the grizzled, beefy look of the series mainstays like Marcus Fenix.
No release window has been set for the Gears of War movie. Fergusson said that the film would not necessarily follow the plot of the games either. Frazier signing on could lead to rewrites or changes in the movie’s direction, and as such Fergusson’s comments may hold little sway now.
Microsoft purchased the Gears of War IP from Epic Games in early 2014, hiring Fergusson away from Epic and founding The Coalition. Gears of War 4 released in 2016, and was set several decades after the Xbox 360 titles. Gears 5 was announced at E3 2018, alongside Gears Tactics, and Gears POP.
The Universal Pictures Gears of War movie is joining a growing roster of movies based on video games. New pictures from the set of the Monster Hunter movie came out recently, a DDR movie was recently announced, as was a Mega Man movie. Video game movies have had a bad reputation, with the best (2018’s Rampage) only being tangentially related to the games they’re based on.
