This project has been a long time coming. In 2017, San Andreas director Brad Peyton signed on to star in the planned version of the movie, which would have starred Jason Momoa of Aquaman fame. Momoa has since become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, but he signed on to star in the film before Aquaman became a billion-dollar hit. Things have changed dramatically.
In 2019, “John Wick” screenwriter Derek Kolstad penned a version of the script while Peyton was still on board. That was before the pandemic shut everything down in Hollywood for months, which undoubtedly took a hit on this potential version of the project. Michael Dowse (Stubborn) was also once linked with directing. Universal now seems to have a solid team in place and is finally ready to actually get the film made.
One of the main differences between then and now is that Hollywood has finally broken the shackles of video game movies. Movies like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. The Movie have been embraced by the masses. Gone are the days when video game movies were considered lame. On TV, things are even better, with shows like The Last of Us garnering widespread acclaim. So, in some ways, it might have been better for this film to have stayed in development hell for a while. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out as development progresses.
The Just Cause movie does not currently have a release date.
