Peter Berg's Netflix film The Mosquito Bowl opens in theaters nationwide
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The gist
Peter Berg's Netflix film The Mosquito Bowl, about a 1944 Marine football game, opened in theaters Oct. 30.
It dramatizes 65 Marines who played on Guadalcanal before many died at Okinawa.
Background
The Mosquito Bowl is a film directed by Peter Berg, adapted from a nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Buzz Bissinger, who is Berg's cousin. The book chronicled a Christmas Eve 1944 football game played on Guadalcanal by Marines of the 6th Marine Division while they trained for the invasion of Okinawa. Bissinger came across the story while working on another project and found his own father had served in one of the regiments that played. The film stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis.
How it unfolded
- Dec 24, 1944Sixty-five U.S. Marines played a football game on Christmas Eve on Guadalcanal between the 4th and 29th Marine Regiments, watched by more than a thousand Marines.
- Months laterMany of the players were sent to fight in the Battle of Okinawa; 15 of the 65 players were killed during the battle.
- 2022Buzz Bissinger published the nonfiction book "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II."
- Oct 22, 2026Berg and the stars walked the red carpet at TCL Chinese Theater for the world premiere during AFI Fest.
- Oct 30, 2026The film opens in movie theaters nationwide.
- Nov 25, 2026The film streams on Netflix.
Who’s saying what
- Critic
- The Hollywood Reporter critic Angie Han called the film "technically impressive, emotionally hollow" and said it "looks good but says little."
- Caution
- Cinemasters reviewer Rua Fay said the film "has already gained a reputation as one of AFI Fest's biggest fumbles."
- Cast
- After the premiere screening, the cast spoke about how much the story means to them and the responsibility they felt to bring these real men back to life on screen.
Still unverified
Sources differ on the number of players killed at Okinawa: 15 of the 65 players in one account versus 14 of the 64 players in another.