The future is frightening — at least it is in "The Tomorrow War." When a group of
time travelers appear in the present to gather allies for a coming conflict, Chris Pratt
and friends arm up to face what's coming. Here's everything you need to know about "The
Tomorrow War."
The journey of "The Tomorrow War" from idea to reality began a few years ago, back in
mid-February 2019. At the time, Variety reported that Marvel Cinematic Universe superstar Chris
Pratt, known to Marvel fans everywhere as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, was in talks to
team with director Chris McKay for a movie entitled "Ghost Draft."
It was set to be a rousing sci-fi actioner, meant to be released in cinemas under Paramount
Pictures and Skydance Media — the same banner behind the "Mission: Impossible" and rebooted
"Star Trek" franchises, as well as movies including the anticipated "Top Gun" sequel
"Top Gun: Maverick."
The movie formerly known as "Ghost Draft" was slated to begin production, per Variety's
2019 report, sometime in the summer of that year. That didn't end up happening, but after
a few months of the film's team rounding out the cast and settling on a title, principal
photography finally kicked off in September 2019.
It's clear that the movie first announced as "Ghost Draft" at some point got its new
title of "The Tomorrow War." But, the minds behind this movie didn't immediately land
on "The Tomorrow War" when thinking of a new name for the project.
According to the film's lead himself, there were a ton of different title options tossed
around before "The Tomorrow War" emerged as the winner.
On November 9, 2019, Chris Pratt — who signed on to serve as an executive producer on the
movie in addition to starring in it — took to Instagram to share a snazzy black-and-white
photo from the set of the film. He announced that "Ghost Draft" got a brand-new name, offering
a rundown of all the titles that he and the film's team considered, and apparently a few
joke ones for good measure.
Running down the options, Pratt wrote —
"We went through: Generation Alien, World War A, Generation Gone, Saving private Ryaalien,
WWZ2 but with As not Zs, HORIZON WHITESPIKE, HERO movie brought to you by Verizon, JUrassic
Draft, GENERATION Draft, Miller genuine Draft, City Slickers, Alien Dawn, Rapture Dawn, Apocalypse
Dawn, Hero Dawn, Destiny war, Saving tomorrow, The Tomorrow War [...] And that's when it
hit me.... We're calling it #TheTomorrowWar."
For what it's worth, we're pretty sure "Saving Private Rya-alien" would've been a blockbuster
hit.
With a title locked in and shooting underway, "The Tomorrow War" was on track for its planned
December 25, 2020 release. Then a little thing called the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and
the movie's release date was pushed back.
"The Tomorrow War" had reportedly wrapped principal photography in January 2020, before
the pandemic forced both movies and television shows to suspend production until further
notice. Since the movie was reportedly in the can, the delay wasn't an issue of not
having the required footage, but rather that there was no longer a good time on the horizon
to premiere the movie in theaters.
Another reason for "The Tomorrow War" being delayed was because other movies on Paramount
and Skydance's film schedule were affected by the pandemic-induced production shutdowns.
Those films had to have their release dates moved, so "The Tomorrow War's" release was
put on pause as well as the studios reassessed their strategies.
Plus, it was April 2020 when Paramount and Skydance executives were making these decisions
to delay films; at the time, theaters across the world were closing indefinitely, and many
questioned whether anyone would step foot into a cinema at all in 2020.
On April 2, 2020, Deadline confirmed that "Top Gun: Maverick" had been moved to December
23, 2020 and "The Tomorrow War" had been pushed to an undetermined date. "Top Gun: Maverick"
ended up moving its release date again, of course, and still isn't out yet. But three
weeks after that initial report, Variety reported that "The Tomorrow War" would debut on July
23, 2021. But more change was on the horizon.
"The Tomorrow War" endured being pulled off the release schedule and sitting on the shelf
for a several-month delay, but its journey to the big screen was thrown even further
for a loop in January 2021, when Deadline got word that the film wouldn't be going to
the big screen at all.
The outlet reported on January 12 that the major streaming services of the world had
screened "The Tomorrow War" that weekend, a showing likely motivated by lingering concern
over the safety of seeing films in theaters, and the odds of people showing up in blockbuster
numbers.
Skydance, not Paramount, was said to have been pushing to sell "The Tomorrow War" to
a streamer, and Amazon Studios was keen on picking it up. Deadline noted that the company
"aggressively offered $200 million," though the deal wasn't set in stone just yet.
It wasn't until April 2021 that everything was made official, and "The Tomorrow War"
was officially a streaming exclusive set to hit Amazon Prime Video ... though not on July
23 as originally expected.
"The Tomorrow War" is scheduled to arrive on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, July 2, 2021
— just in time for the July Fourth holiday weekend.
"Welcome to Earth."
Other than the summer weather, the movie doesn't appear to have any direct competition on this
day when it comes to similar movies. "The Boss Baby: Family Business," Universal Pictures'
follow-up to the 2017 animated film "The Boss Baby," is launching in theaters and on the
Peacock streaming site on July 2 as well, but there probably won't be very much overlap
between the people watching the new "Boss Baby" movie and those tuning into "The Tomorrow
War."
The film also doesn't have to worry about Marvel Studios' long-awaited "Black Widow"
stealing its thunder. Starring Scarlett Johansson in her first solo outing as the character,
"Black Widow" will open in theaters and be available to stream on Disney+ via Premier
Access on July 9. That gives "The Tomorrow War" a full week to shine and dominate news
headlines before the MCU movie becomes the talk of the internet.
"Stop talking. Listen" "Sorry. When I'm nervous, I talk. I'm a 97 on the 'nervous' scale."
Now, since the film is an Amazon Prime Video exclusive, there isn't a very great chance
that "The Tomorrow War" will receive a second release date on other video-on-demand platforms
for quite some time after it's released — if at all. If you aren't an Amazon Prime subscriber
and you've been meaning to catch up on Chris Pratt's filmography, you'll want to consider
picking up a subscription.
So, who's in "The Tomorrow War" anyhow — apart from Chris Pratt? Well, let's get the leading
man out of the way first. In "The Tomorrow War," Chris Pratt plays Dan Forester, an Army
veteran and current high school teacher who's sent 30 years into the future — to the year
2051 — to fight an all-out war against a mysterious enemy and do his part to save the
world. "GLOW" alum Betty Gilpin plays Dan's wife Emmy, while Ryan Kiera Armstrong portrays
his daughter Muri.
Joining Dan on this planet-saving mission is a "brilliant scientist" portrayed by "Dexter"
and "The Handmaid's Tale" actress Yvonne Strahovski, as well as Dan's estranged father, played
by Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons. Simmons is coming hot off of the success of Amazon's
animated super-series "Invincible," in which he voiced the super-powered alien Nolan Grayson,
aka Omni-Man.
The plot of "The Tomorrow War" is a bit of a unique take on time-travel stories. It follows
military veteran and loving father Dan, who comes to a child's birthday party in order
to see his daughter.
While watching a live soccer game with his family, a strange event interrupts the broadcast.
Soldiers from the future open a portal in the center of the soccer field. They claim
that in 30 years' time, humanity will wage a losing war against an overwhelming alien
force. With too few humans left to combat the force in 2051, soldiers from that time
have come to the year 2021 to conscript people in order to save the humans of tomorrow.
"We are fighting a war thirty years in the future." "Is this a joke?"
Soon after this occurs, people begin getting drafted into what's known as the Tomorrow
War. Dan's wife Emmy is one of these unlucky few, but he volunteers to go in her stead.
Fixed with a time-traveling device on his wrist, Dan and the other soldiers travel to
the future in order to save the world from a race of animalistic aliens.
Speaking of the aliens in "The Tomorrow War," they're quite gnarly-looking. That's thanks
to Ken Barthelmey, the creature designer who brought the film's extraterrestrial monsters
to life.
You may not instantly recognize Barthelmey's name, but you've likely seen his work on the
silver screen in some of the biggest movies of the last few years. He's worked as a creature
designer, character designer, or concept artist on everything from "The Maze Runner" movies,
"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," and "Detective Pikachu" to "The Predator,"
"The Nun," and "Godzilla: King of the Monsters."
Most recently, Barthelmey's creature-designing work was on glorious display in 2021's "Godzilla
vs. Kong."
Looking ahead, Barthelmey will be lending his talents to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
entry "Thor: Love and Thunder" and the "Aquaman" sequel "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom."
The trailers for "The Tomorrow War" tease that the aliens will be fearsome, but viewers
will have to wait until the movie debuts on July 2 to get the full scope of just how dangerous
they really are.
Chatting with Variety in a June 2021 interview, "The Tomorrow War" writer Zach Dean and star/executive
producer Chris Pratt opened up about the film's themes.
Dean explained that although it may appear to be about "an ideology or patriotism or
loyalty to protect your country," it's actually about a very literal "desire to save your
own kids," which is what Dan's primary motivation for participating in the Tomorrow War is.
In other words, this whole future war idea is in service of a very simple message. As
Dean put it,
"We're not asking for an abstract idea. It's about parenting."
Pratt also noted,
"You are dealing with people who are making life decisions based not on the life that
they could lead, but rather the world that they're leaving for their children. It's a
different theme to think about someone being drafted away from their children rather than
children being drafted away from their parents."
As for how Dan's relationship with his estranged father shaped his dynamic with his own daughter,
Pratt explained that Dan is "blaming his father for all of his issues," pinning everything
on his dad not being around when he was growing up. But when Dan comes to realize that he's
a lot like his father, things begin to change for the better.
"When we look at our parents as these deities in our life, we come to a moment in our life
where we realize, 'Oh, wow, that was just a kid who had a kid.' You realize, 'Okay,
now I'm in the same dilemma, my kids are going to look at me like I'm some sort of infallible
person and of course I'm not.'"
The only things you need to see "The Tomorrow War" when it debuts are an Amazon Prime account
and some time set aside to stream the movie once it debuts on July 2. But there's a rule
that lead actor Chris Pratt requests you abide by if you want to have the best viewing experience
possible. It's simple: Pretend you're in a movie theater and turn your phone off.
Speaking in an interview with Digital Spy, Pratt said,
"You can still have an amazing viewing experience watching this on Prime. I would just advocate
that people turn their phones off. Sit down, commit to watching all the way through. [...] Watch
it at home, but pretend you're at the movie theater. Turn your phone off and sit back
and enjoy, because it's freaking awesome."
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