Peter Berg’s ‘The Mosquito Bowl’ Sets October 30 Theatrical Release, November Netflix Premiere

Netflix has dated “The Mosquito Bowl,” directed by Berg, for a U.S. theatrical release on October 30, before streaming on Netflix on November 25.

The theatrical rollout is for Oscar eligibility, as the film will play in select AMC theaters during its run, along with additional locations across the country. It marks a rare partnership between AMC and Netflix, which have had a contentious back-and-forth over the last few years.

The film tells the story of four of America’s most celebrated college football players who put their athletic careers on hold to enlist in the Marines after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As they train for the brutal invasion of Okinawa, they take part in a legendary football game featuring some of the greatest players in college football history—a game that would ultimately be the last for many of them.

Based on the New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger, the film’s cast includes Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis. Berg and Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”) wrote the screenplay.

We’ll see if this film wins over Oscar voters. At the moment, not including “The Mosquito Bowl,” Netflix has three potential Oscar contenders: Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” Los Javis’ “La Bola Negar,” and David Fincher’s “Cliff Booth.”

Berg’s past films have been very attuned to rural, conservative America—blue-collar, middle-class heroes on duty, serving and protecting. Berg’s “Lone Survivor” followed that mold, and it was a stellar war movie. I also quite liked “Patriots Day,” his meticulous account of the Boston Marathon bombings. However, he’s been stuck in a rut of late, with two consecutive duds: one of them a Netflix abomination (“Spenser Confidential”) and the other a failed CIA military flick (“Mile 22”).

Up next for Berg, he’s supposed to shoot his “Call of Duty” movie next year for Paramount, which he’s co-writing with Taylor Sheridan.