Blizzard’s Overwatch enjoys plenty of popularity due to its pro esports scene, but sometimes it seems like most fans aren’t even that interested in actually playing it. The game’s robust in-universe mythology and colorful characters — there is a GORILLA SCIENTIST NAMED “WINSTON,” y’all — has earned the game a unique identity separate from most first-person shooters, like Call of Duty and Destiny. Case in point: Over the Fourth of July weekend, a YouTube channel named Lion Montages created a fake Netflix series trailer made out of existing Overwatch shorts produced by Blizzard. The result is a show that looks too good to be fan-made.
This isn’t the first time Overwatch fans, let alone Lion Montages, have cut up scenes for fake trailers. Several months ago, Lion Montages edited a theatrical movie-style trailer based out of the same Overwatch shorts. But now, Lion Montages has sought a different rhythm for a theoretical Netflix series. The result is a compelling case study for film students. Both the theatrical and Netflix trailers use the same exact footage, but they follow entirely different audio-visual patterns and rhythms.
Personally, I prefer the Netflix trailer. Fake movie trailers are a played-out genre, and Lion Montages nailed a sense of energy while slyly spoofing Netflix’s habit of using popular music (“Human” by Rag’n’Bone Man) in place of original scores (see: Marvel’s The Defenders). Plus, the idea of a Netflix show is a better fit for Overwatch than an overproduced theatrical movie. Who doesn’t want filler episodes where Tracer zips around shops to buy a birthday gift for her girlfriend?
See Lion Montages’s Netflix trailer below.
And for comparison, here’s the theatrical trailer from a few months ago.
Overwatch is available to play now. The Netflix series does not have a premiere date because it doesn’t exist.
