Netflix is riding the wave of popularity for video game adaptations by commissioning a Gears of War movie. The streamer is recruiting a former stuntman turned director to helm the action spectacle.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, David Leitch is in negotiations to direct Gears of War for Netflix. Jon Spaihts, the Academy Award-nominated co-writer of Dune, will pen the Gears of War screenplay.
Leitch and Kelly McCormick, Leitch’s wife and creative partner, will produce the Netflix adaptation through their 87 North banner. Netflix will partner with The Coalition Studio, the Canadian video game developer, to produce the feature film adaptation.
Netflix acquired the rights to Gears of War in 2022. The streamer has plans to make a blockbuster adaptation of the video game before expanding to other mediums, including an adult animated series.
Released in 2006, Gears of War is a third-person shooter game set on the fictional Earth-like planet of Sera. With society on the brink of extinction, humans engage in a war with vicious underground creatures known as the Locust Horde. The game follows soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago of the Delta Squad in a fight to save humanity against the Locust forces.
Gears of War became the fastest-selling video game of 2006 and one of the best-selling franchises for the Xbox 360. There have been eight Gears of War video games, which include the main series, spinoffs, and prequels.
Leitch began his career as a stunt performer, doubling for Brad Pitt and then working on two Matrix movies. After working as the uncredited co-director of John Wick, Leitch helmed his first feature with 2017’s Atomic Blonde.
Since Atomic Blonde, Leitch has become a reliable action director backed by excellent stuntwork. Leitch’s other films include Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, Bullet Train, and The Fall Guy. Leitch’s next movie is 2026’s How to Rob a Bank, a crime thriller with Nicolas Hoult, Pete Davidson, and Anna Sawai.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.