Mosquito Bowl game
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The gist
Netflix released the first teaser trailer for Peter Berg's WWII film The Mosquito Bowl on Wednesday.
It dramatizes a real 1944 Marine football game whose players soon fought at Okinawa.
Background
The film adapts Buzz Bissinger's 2022 nonfiction book about the real Mosquito Bowl, a Christmas Eve 1944 football game between the 4th and 29th Marine Regiments on Guadalcanal, played by Marines preparing for the invasion of Okinawa. The game featured many of the country's best college football prospects, including future NFL players, and several who competed died in the Battle of Okinawa. The story follows four top college football stars who enlisted in the Marines after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The teaser drew coverage partly because Netflix had been building buzz around the project since announcing Berg would direct.
How it unfolded
- Dec 24, 1944The real Mosquito Bowl is played on Guadalcanal between the 4th and 29th Marine Regiments as the Marines prepare for the invasion of Okinawa.
- 2022Buzz Bissinger publishes The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, the book the film adapts.
- Sep 9, 2026Netflix releases the first official teaser trailer for The Mosquito Bowl.
- Oct 30, 2026The film is set to hit theaters.
Who’s saying what
- Press
- Coverage describes the teaser as a compelling first look that highlights the film's four stars and impressive production values.
- Analysts
- Outlets frame the project as a notable Netflix bet given director Peter Berg's track record with films like Friday Night Lights and Lone Survivor.
Still unverified
One outlet describes Bissinger's book as a 'historical fiction novel' while others call it bestselling nonfiction; the book's classification is stated inconsistently across the retrieved material.