Director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Skyscraper, Red Notice) will be helming Netflix's upcoming feature adaptation of Tom Clancy's The Division, a popular video game franchise. News of Thurber stepping in to direct comes via Deadline. He will be taking over for David Leitch (Deadpool 2), who had to leave the project due to scheduling conflicts with the currently filming thriller Bullet Train.

　　According to Ubisoft, the movie "is set in the near future, where a virus is spread via paper money on Black Friday, decimating the city of New York… a group of civilians, trained to operate in catastrophic times, are activated to save who and what remains." Jake Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far from Home, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, Molly's Game) will co-star, but it's not yet known what roles they'll be playing or how they might relate to the original game.

　　The Division is just one small part of what seems could be a turning tide for video game movie adaptations gaining respect and viability for Hollywood. A recent The Ringer article has broken down how films like Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog proved the formula can work, which in turn led to many studios snapping up adaptation deals.

　　What we're starting seeing now is those deals starting to bear fruit. For example, the recent Mortal Kombat movie trailer was the most-watched red-band promo of all time, clocking more than 166 million views in its first week. Other, similar adaptations, like HBO's The Last of Us, demonstrates that prestige television may also be within gaming's grasp--or reach, anyway--as well.

　　David Wolinsky on Google+