H.G. Wells‘ sci-fi classic War of the Worlds is getting a bold screenlife reimagining starring Ice Cube (Anaconda), and the trailer is invading just ahead of the film’s surprise release.
War of the Worlds, by producers Patrick Aiello (As Above, So Below) and Timur Bekmambetov (Missing, Unfriended, Hardcore Henry), will premiere globally on Prime Video on July 30, 2025.
The film is directed by Rich Lee, and written by Kenneth Golde and Marc Hyman.
This modern-day adaptation follows “Will Radford (Ice Cube), a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security, who spends his days tracking potential threats to national security through a mass surveillance program, until an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him… and the rest of the world.”
“Set against a backdrop of surveillance, mass data collection, and government-tech collusion, the film explores urgent themes of privacy vs. security, family vs. work, and humanity vs. control. With nods to Orwell’s 1984 and powered by a screenlife-style format, this refresh of H.G. Wells’ classic novel resonates with today’s digital anxieties.”
Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick, and Michael O’Neill also star.
“The idea was organic,” says Aiello. “When catastrophes happen today, we experience them through our devices. That insight shaped the storytelling and tech used to create this immersive thriller.” Additionally, “For the first time ever, a studio-scale sci-fi epic has been produced using a format that places audiences inside the action through the lenses of phones, computers, and tablets. It’s a visceral, first-person experience designed for big screens in a language and format that is now natural within our daily lives.”
“It’ll be exciting for audiences to watch the movie and ask themselves: if aliens invaded today, how would we experience it? Most likely, we’d be watching it on our phones,” says Bekmambetov. “In that way, it’s kind of a modern spin on Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds. Back then, he used radio, the most popular technology of the time, to make people believe the invasion was real. Today, that medium is the screen of our devices.”
Watch the trailer for the screenlife sci-fi thriller below and look for the film on Prime Video next week.