Ice Cube Tries to Explain Why His Latest Sci-Fi Movie Is a Megaflop With a 4% Rotten Tomatoes Score
Ice Cube’s latest movie, War of the Worlds, was supposed to be a modern spin on H. G. Wells’s classic novel. Instead, it turned into one of the biggest flops of 2025.
The film was released on Amazon Prime Video in July and was ripped apart by critics, scoring just 4 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and only 6 out of 100 on Metacritic.
The movie was directed by Rich Lee and written by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman. It starred Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick, and Michael O’Neill.
Universal Pictures produced it but later sold it to Amazon, which critics say stuffed it with shameless product placement. One scene in particular, where a Prime Air drone delivers a flash drive to Ice Cube’s character, was widely mocked.
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com even called the constant Amazon promotion “truly morally icky” and gave the movie zero stars. Variety’s Peter Debruge also blasted it, saying Ice Cube’s performance didn’t help save the poor adaptation. NBC’s Austin Mullen went as far as calling it one of the worst films of the year.
Rotten Tomatoes added it to their list of the “100 Worst Movies of All Time,” ranking it at number 79. Some reviewers, though, found it entertaining in a so-bad-it’s-good way. Kevin Nguyen of The Verge said it fit that category, while Entertainment Weekly’s Jordan Hoffman admitted, “It’s certainly stupid, but it’s also a great deal of fun.”
Recently, Ice Cube sat down with streamer Kai Cenat to explain what went wrong. He revealed that the production was rushed and unusual because of the pandemic. “War of the Worlds was shot in 15 days during the COVID pandemic,” he said. “The director wasn’t there… This was the only way we could shoot the movie.”
The project originally started back in 2020 when Universal gave the green light to producer Timur Bekmambetov’s idea of making a “screenlife” thriller.
This style of filmmaking tells the story entirely through screens of phones, computers, and tablets. Bekmambetov compared it to Orson Welles’s famous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, saying, “If aliens invaded today, how would we experience it? Most likely, we’d be watching it on our phones.”
Filming was quick, but post-production dragged on for two years. By 2024, it was officially announced as an adaptation of Wells’s novel. When Amazon picked it up, new changes were made, including the addition of an Amazon delivery driver character.
Ice Cube and Eva Longoria star in the official trailer for WAR OF THE WORLDS, a film by Rich Lee, premieres July 30 on Prime Video. pic.twitter.com/K2F9p1xm7m
— Movie Coverage (@MovieCoverage_) July 24, 2025
Despite the ambitious concept, critics felt the final product looked cheap and shallow. Between the heavy branding, clumsy writing, and Ice Cube’s performance, the movie didn’t stand a chance. Still, Ice Cube’s explanation gives fans some context. A movie made in 15 days with a director working remotely was always going to face an uphill battle.
War of the Worlds may have been marketed as a modern reinvention of a sci-fi classic, but in the end, it has become a cautionary tale about rushed productions and corporate tie-ins.
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