Netflix has released a red-band trailer for The Mosquito Bowl, Peter Berg’s World War II drama about four college football stars who traded fame for the Marines. The film opens in select theaters on October 30 before arriving on Netflix on November 25, and its cast stepped out for a special BAFTA-hosted screening in New York on October 28.
The film is based on Buzz Bissinger’s 2022 book, The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, four of America’s top college players set their fame aside to enlist, and before the brutal invasion of Okinawa they play a legendary game featuring some of the greatest players in history. For many of them, as the synopsis puts it, it will be the last game they ever play.
A cast built for both field and battlefield
Nicholas Galitzine stars as John McLaughry, Bill Skarsgård plays Bob Bauman, Ray Nicholson plays Tony Butkovich and Tom Francis plays David Schreiner. Brent Comer, Dominic Bogart, Jack Ingram, Ella Newton and former NFL punter Pat McAfee, as a drill instructor, round out the ensemble. Berg himself appears as General Buckner. The film runs 127 minutes, with music by Explosions in the Sky.
No punches pulled
Unlike earlier trailers, the red-band preview does not shy away from graphic combat, cutting between trench warfare and hard-nosed football. Berg co-wrote the screenplay with Mark L. Smith, and the film had its world premiere at the AFI Film Festival on October 22. Nicholson revealed in interviews around the New York screening that he needed knee surgery after an injury sustained during filming.
The Mosquito Bowl is Netflix’s latest big-screen play, and its theatrical-first rollout gives audiences a chance to see its large-scale battle sequences before it lands on streaming.
