About

War of the Worlds refers to a 2025 sci-fi film starring rapper and actor Ice Cube, which was released on Amazon Prime Video on July 30th, 2025. The movie is based on the 1898 H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds. It follows Will Radford (played by Ice Cube), a computer security analyst working for the U.S. government, who finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. The film received a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and was widely regarded as one of the worst movies of 2025, as expressed in viral memes, tweets and internet discourse. Many centered their posts and criticism on a scene in which Amazon product placement becomes a central plot point in saving the characters. Notably, the actor playing the Amazon deliveryman was Devon Bostick, known for his role as Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise.

History

In September 2020, it was announced by Deadline^[2] that Ice Cube was cast in a then-untitled sci-fi film directed by Patrick Aiello and Timur Bekmambetov for Universal Pictures.

The movie's press went quiet until 2025, when the first trailer was released on YouTube^[3] on July 24th, 2025, gaining over 696,800 views in 13 days (shown below).

On July 30th, 2025, War of the Worlds was released on Amazon Prime Video.^[1][4]

Reception

By August 6th, 2025, the film had received a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[1][5] A top review from critic Ed Power read, "It is silly, shoddy and features far too much of rapper-turned-leading man Ice Cube staring at a computer screen while looking as if he’s working through a reasonably urgent digestive ailment."

On the day that the film was released, Variety^[6] critic Peter Debruge called the film "corny" and later noted a closing scene in the film "where the Prime delivery guy saves the day, telling Will, 'I need you to place an official order on Amazon to activate the drone.'"

On August 1st, 2025, amateur critic, TikToker ^[7] @cuss_creep_llc, shared his review of the film, saying that it was the worst sci-fi film he'd ever seen. His video received over 58,300 likes in five days (shown below).

Online Reactions

On July 31st, 2025, Twitter / X ^[9] user @PoorOldRoloTony posted a scene from the film, captioning it, "War of the Worlds (2025) is the worst adaption of the source material to date. It had no ideas beyond the found footage approach," gaining over 11,000 likes in six days (shown below).

War of the Worlds (2025) is the worst adaption of the source material to date. It had no ideas beyond the found footage approach, and even then the film is struggling to find ways to present coherent scenes. Ice Cube is so lost. Maybe one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/jnQbGRy9Kp

— Rolo Tony (@PoorOldRoloTony) July 31, 2025

On August 1st, X^[8] user @highhfred posted a scene from the film, in which an Amazon Prime deliveryman, played by actor Devon Bostick, known for his previous role as Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, saves the characters from an imminent threat. The user captioned it, "That new War of the Worlds movie was hilariously awful," gaining over 9,800 likes in five days (shown below).

that new war of the worlds movie was hilariously awful pic.twitter.com/gxAHVIrbL8

— highfred (@highhfred) August 1, 2025

On August 2nd, 2025, Redditor GoatsGoats00 shared the clip of the Amazon delivery scene to the /r/RedLetterMedia^[11] subreddit, captioned, "The new War of the Worlds movie with Ice Cube is on another level of bad." The post gained over 1,700 upvotes in four days.

On August 3rd, Redditor lunahighwind shared a post about the 0% Rotten Tomatoes score on the /r/moviecritic^[12] subreddit, gaining over 2,600 upvotes in three days (shown below).

On August 5th, 2025, X^[10] user @HubPointless tweeted, "This is the greatest film ever made," receiving over 31,000 likes a day (shown below).

Also on August 5th, X^[11] user @ tweeted a GIF of Wee-Bey's Reaction, captioned, "This is how Ice Cube reacts to every single tragedy in War of the Worlds," gaining over 13,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References