The domino effect of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds entering the public domain has crash-landed onto Prime Video, with the streamer releasing a new version of the alien invasion tale starring Ice Cube. A week out from its release has given us a hysteria not dissimilar to Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio broadcast—it’s just now folks are flocking to Prime to check out what’s become this year’s quintessential hate-watch film.
Released on July 30, War of the Worlds features Ice Cube in the role of Will Radford, a domestic terror analyst at the Department of Homeland Security. Throughout the film, viewers experience his workday from the perspective of his computer’s webcam through programs like Zoom and WhatsApp. While using his high-level clearance to helicopter parent his children, he witnesses a mysterious meteor shower masquerading as an alien invasion and has to save the planet from a war of the worlds… via the power of invasive surveillance technology. And Amazon drones!
There are three undeniable facts about Prime Video’s new adaptation of War of the Worlds. First, it has a resounding zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Second, folks are clowning on its awkward, wooden acting on social media. Lastly, it is currently among the top ten recently released movies on Prime Video, fulfilling all the criteria needed for the perfect hate-watch.
Ice Cube throughout the entire War of the Worlds movie pic.twitter.com/6kESlcyqiI
— Skyler Higley (@skyler_higley) August 6, 2025
Whether they are comedians, YouTubers, TikTokers, or your everyday grass-fed meme poster, everybody and their mom seems to be contributing to the feedback loop phenomenon, where a spectacularly terrible film inadvertently fails its way to succeeding. At the time of writing, War of the Worlds is ranked number five in Prime Video’s Top 10 in the US. For posterity, the list currently has season three of The Summer I Turned Pretty and Eddie Murphy’s new comedy film, The Pickup, in the top two spots, respectively, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes at number six.
The last time this happened was with Marvel’s Morbius, though Prime Video doesn’t appear to be leaning into the meme by unironically promoting the film on social media to draw more attention to how must-watch bad it is.
#WarOfTheWorlds is Rotten at 0% on the Tomatometer, with 21 reviews: https://t.co/Jo5zHqPicT pic.twitter.com/pCECmU9Yob
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) August 7, 2025
io9 recently descended Mt. Sinai, like Moses, watching Ice Cube’s film and giving common folk a vibe check of how bad the movie is, with spoilers and all. While we found that much of the dogpiling laughing at the film is certainly warranted, we did give the movie some kudos for being a “reasonably fresh way to approach Wells’ familiar story.” It’s still a farce, make no mistake. But it’s also a farce people can’t seem to help rubbernecking at.
If you’re morbidly curious about how much of a sweet spot War of the Worlds lands in the elusive hate-watch distinction, you can stream it now on Prime Video.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
