The Terminal List Meets Terminator In Prime Video’s 2-Hour Sci-Fi Thriller

Taking The Terminal List’s espionage story and adding some of The Terminator franchise’s sci-fi themes, one underrated Prime Video thriller more than earned its upcoming sequel. The popularity of Prime Video’s Reacher franchise has overshadowed some of the streaming service’s other action thrillers, including some major spy shows from the last few years. Although the Citadel franchise was a costly misfire for the streaming service, 2024’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith reboot was well received by viewers and critics alike.

Similarly, the darker Reacher alternative The Terminal List was a massive success upon its 2022 release, immediately spawning an even more downbeat prequel spinoff, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. Starring Chris Pratt as the conflicted Navy SEAL James Reece, The Terminal List sees Reece’s family targeted by shady villains after a mission goes badly wrong for the SEAL. Based on the novel of the same name by author Jack Carr, The Terminal List follows Reece’s desperate search for answers as he uncovers a corrupt political conspiracy that goes all the way to the White House.

Gritty and brutal, The Terminal List was a massive success for Prime Video upon its 2022 release. However, the show’s grounded story meant that it couldn’t explore more outlandish twists, something that an earlier Pratt project for the streaming service managed admirably. Taking The Terminal List’s spy story and infusing it with the knotty time travel chronology of The Terminator movies, 2021’s The Tomorrow War starred Pratt as Dan Forester, a former Green Beret who must return to the front to save the world from an alien invasion.

The Tomorrow War Blends The Terminator’s Time Travel With The Terminal List’s Spy Thrills

In a clever twist on conventional sci-fi war stories, The Tomorrow War begins in 2022 as a group of soldiers travels back in time to warn the world that an impending alien invasion will wipe out much of humanity. Pratt’s Forster is conscripted to join the fight against the aliens, known as the White Spikes, and travels to 2051 to work out how to defeat the extraterrestrial invaders.

Penned by The Gorge’s Zach Dean and directed by The Lego Batman Movie’s Chris McKay, The Tomorrow War is a gritty, dark, and bombastic throwback to ’90s action classics like Independence Day. Even though Dean has a story credit on the famously campy Fast & Furious franchise’s most recent outing, 2023’s Fast X, The Tomorrow War’s mixed reviews largely focused on the movie’s decision to take its premise surprisingly seriously, missing out on the tongue-in-cheek tone of earlier entries into the sci-fi war movie genre.

The Tomorrow War Is Getting A Sequel Despite Its Box Office Failure

Frank Masi/Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

However, this did not stop The Tomorrow War from becoming a big hit with audiences upon its release, at least on some platforms. Since the expensive sci-fi blockbuster was released during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Tomorrow War scarcely sold any tickets in theaters and earned a paltry $19 million gross on a budget of $200 million. However, the Pratt vehicle was a massive hit on Prime Video and even earned a sequel thanks to its popularity.

With a stacked supporting cast including JK Simmons, Sam Richardson, Betty Gilpin, and The Handmaid’s Tale supporting star Yvonne Strahovski, The Tomorrow War was not short on star power or impressive special effects. The movie’s failure to lighten up its tone and have some fun might have left critics underwhelmed, but it clearly didn’t hurt its performance with viewers.

As such, although The Tomorrow War 2’s release date has not yet been announced, director Chris McKay did reveal that there was a script for the movie on its way in 2024. Since then, there hasn’t been any major updates, but the success of The Tomorrow War on Prime Video means the streaming service’s unique blend of The Terminator and The Terminal List will be hotly anticipated no matter how long the sequel takes to arrive.

Release Date

July 2, 2021

Runtime

138 minutes

Director

Chris McKay

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