Fans think Netflix’s Atlas is as close as we’re getting to a Titanfall movie
In today's world of video game adaptations, it seems that no IP is safe - for better or for worse. From The Last of Us to Fallout, Stray to BioShock, your favourite franchises are destined for a move to the silver or small screen.
Sci-fi still means big business in Tinsel Town, and whether it be Mass Effect, System Shock, or Titanfall (and its Apex Legends world), there are plenty of pitches for huge games to get the Hollywood treatment. Sadly, it looks like Repsawn Entertainment's Titanfall isn't only being forgotten in the world of video games.
Netflix accused of making a live-action Titanfall...without Titanfall
The latest trailer for Brad Peyton's Atlas has just been released, showing off the Jennifer Lopez-led action movie - yep, remember when J. Lo used to act? Here, Lopez plays Atlas Shepherd, a data analyst who ends up marooned in space while wearing a Titanfall-inspired mech suit.
Netflix has already been accused of using AI to influence its projects, and with Atlas being a story about Shepherd having to put her distrust of AI to one side to save humanity, it's been dragged for sounding like AI wrote it. If that wasn't enough, some have accused it of being a Titanfall rip-off.
Responding to the Atlas trailer, one Reddit thread said, "Tell me I’m wrong," under a post titled, "So Netflix is making Titanfall, huh?" Others agreed, with someone else adding, "Proven wrong by the fact Titanfall is defined as being good."
Another joked, "Mom can have Titanfall movie. We have Titanfall movie at home...Titanfall movie at home," while a third said, "I’m roughly…70% sure this was a rejected Titanfall script that got turned into a J-Lo vehicle when rights fell through." Either way, it's clear Atlas is not the Titanfall movie you were looking for.
We're overdue our Titanfall renaissance
Click to enlargeIf Atlas was some box office-topping hit, we could see it spurring an actual Titanfall adaptation into action, but looking at the trailer and after the lukewarm success of the Pacific Rim movies, we don't see it happening anytime soon.
There was the Titanfall: Free the Frontier short that led to the production team working on the Titanfall 2 Single Player Cinematic Trailer, but aside from that, there hasn't been so much as a whisper of a live-action movie or TV series.
Of course, Titanfall and its mechs have been left to gather rust. Despite teases that EA could give us Titanfall 3 if fans 'believe' enough in it, ex-Respawn developer Mohammad Alavi claims a third instalment was in the works at one point. It's not helped by the proposed Titanfall x Apex Legends crossover being canned.
Even if our dreams of Titanfall 3 and a Titanfall movie wane by the day, at least fans of schlocky sci-fi can enjoy Titanfall from Wish when Atlas releases on May 24, 2024.
