The long-running Just Cause series has been out of the picture for quite a while now, so excuse us if we didn’t expect a movie announcement to come before the reveal of Just Cause 5.
Via The Hollywood Reporter, we’ve learned that the big-screen Just Cause adaptation, which had been rumored to be happening a few times over the years, is finally moving in a definite direction, as Universal and 87North (Kelly McCormick and David Leitch‘s film banner) has recruited Blue Beetle’s Ángel Manuel Soto to captain the project.
As pointed out by THR’s report, previous efforts to get the adaptation off the ground included talent such as Brad Peyton (Rampage, Atlas) and Derek Kolstad (the scribe behind the John Wick franchise) flying in and out “before the rights eventually lapsed.” It remains to be seen who’s handling a new script, but Ángel Manuel Soto is a decent get for the movie, especially given the genuine Latino voice the story and Rico Rodriguez need. If they can land a killer cast and nail the action, this one should be an easy win.
Blue Beetle’s box office performance wasn’t spectacular, mainly because it focused on a relatively unknown DC superhero and wasn’t led by a huge star, yet the movie worked well enough for critics and fans alike. Personally, while I found its very basic structure and core conflict to be too familiar, I must admit it all was handled quite well, resulting in an unimpressive – albeit genuinely charming – superhero flick with lower stakes than usual, which was kind of refreshing at this point of the genre’s life cycle.
Universal jumped quickly on the adaptation, “as the studio sees the title as part of the rising wave of video game adaptations that seem to be supplanting the superhero genre at the box office.” You know what? It probably isn’t wrong. In 2023 alone, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Five Nights at Freddy’s grossed over $1.4 billion and $290 million respectively in the global box office for the studio, and we all know how shows based on famous video game franchises are slowly taking over TV.