Santa Monica Studios’ God of War was in the doldrums in the early 2010s. After six very similar games, players were getting tired of watching an angry bald man yanking out Cyclops’ eyes. Then came 2018’s soft reboot, God of War. This was a more mature take on the violent mythological drama (though it still had lots of dismemberment), received universal critical adulation and was a sales smash. It’s now considered possibly the best game on the PlayStation 4, so it’s not a surprise that the series is being lined up for a big screen adaptation.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us Jake Johnson is returning for Jurassic World 3 and Han would return to the Fast & Furious franchise, both of which are now confirmed – a God of War movie is in development at Universal, with Jason Momoa being eyed for the role of Kratos. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher why it’s being developed at Universal and not Sony, but we’re told that the latter studio will still co-produce.
What we’re also hearing though is that they want Dave Bautista for Ares. This indicates that the film will adapt the first God of War (2005), which introduced us to Kratos as he carved a bloody path through the Greek pantheon. His target in the game is the titular God of War, Ares, who tricked him into killing his wife and daughter. The plot would make a great movie, though I hope potential sequels follow the games and do a time jump to an older Kratos dealing with the Norse gods.
Bautista would indeed make a decent Ares, too, if they can snag him, and if they do follow the first game’s plot, the finale should be one hell of a spectacle (Kratos and Ares grow to Godzilla-sized proportions and throw down). In the meantime, rumors swirl that Santa Monica Studios are hard at work on the next game in the God of War franchise, which should hopefully arrive early in the PlayStation 5’s lifetime.
