Amazon Swoops In To Buy Chris Pratt's 'The Tomorrow War' For A Streaming Debut [Updated]

Update: Amazon is poised to buy The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt, after Skydance and Paramount shopped the sci-fi action flick to major streamers. Though the deal is not yet finalized, Variety reports that the deal could total roughly $200 million. The original story follows below.The Tomorrow War, a sci-fi action film executive produced by and starring Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), has a great sci-fi hook: when Earth finds itself outgunned during an alien invasion, a scientist figures out how to draft soldiers from the past to save humanity's future. That sounds like an Independence Day-level blockbuster waiting to happen, the type of material that would be the most effective on a big screen. But according to a new report, Paramount and Skydance are currently hoping to sell the movie off to the highest streaming bidder.

Deadline says that Paramount and Skydance set up screenings for the "major streamers" this past weekend, and the movie played "really well." Whether that reaction refers to the streamers being excited about the idea of having a potential Chris Pratt sci-fi franchise on their hands, or if the movie is actually any good remains unclear for now.

The outlet says the movie, which is written by Zach Dean (24 Hours to Live), "follows a man who is drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront his past." Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin, Keith Powers, Mike Mitchell, Sam Richardson, and J. K. Simmons co-star, and Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie) makes his live-action directorial debut here.

Despite the fact that Paramount has developed a reputation over the past few years for selling off all but its biggest franchise entries (Star Treks, Missions Impossible, Transformers, etc), this report claims that it's actually Skydance that is leading the charge to sell off The Tomorrow War to a streaming service instead of debuting it in theaters. The film was originally going to be released in theaters last Christmas, and as of right now, it is still slated for a theatrical release on July 23, 2021. But it's clear that Paramount and Skydance are not confident that the film will be able to perform well enough to get them a big enough return on their investment – everyone hopes that the theatrical moviegoing will return once the COVID-19 vaccine is more widely distributed later this year, but that's still theoretical right now, and the studio clearly isn't interested in taking what they deem to be any unnecessary risks. So selling it off up and getting their money back up front makes sense in the short term.

Paramount and Skydance recently sold the Michael B. Jordan thriller Without Remorse to Amazon, and animated movies Spellbound and Luck to AppleTV+. We will update this article when an official deal has been announced regarding The Tomorrow War's future.