It's been several years since it was first announced that Jake Gyllenhaal was tapped to produce and star in a big-screen adaptation of Tom Clancy's The Division, and it was revealed during Ubisoft's panel at E3 that Netflix has scooped up the project.
THE DIVISION is slated to take place in "the near future where a pandemic virus is spread via paper money on Black Friday, decimating the city of New York and killing millions. By Christmas, what’s left of society has descended into chaos. A group of civilians, trained to operate in catastrophic times, are activated in an attempt to save who and what remains." In addition to Jake Gyllenhaal, THE DIVISION will also star Jessica Chastain (DARK PHOENIX). The film was originally slated to be helmed by Stephen Gaghan (SYRIANA) but David Leitch (HOBBS & SHAW) stepped in to replace him last year. Rafe Judkins (Wheel of Time) is set to adapt the screenplay.
Video-game movies typically don't fare very well, in fact, the recent DETECTIVE PIKACHU is one of the very few to actually receive a positive reception from audiences. This does make it a little hard to get overly excited about the latest video-game project, but the combination of Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Chastain, and David Leitch is enough to allow me to feel the smallest amount of cautious optimism.