If you saw the super hype three-minute-long cinematic that Epic pushed out ahead of the launch of Fortnite’s first narrative-driven single-player experience earlier this week, you’ll know it was quite the spectacle. Embedded below, the trailer is an exploration of the various brands, characters, and goofy humor that’s made Fortnite such a success to date, centring on Agent Jones and co. as they succeed in containing the anomalous Zero Point. Turns out, there’s a reason that the trailer was a little more gripping than other Fortnite projects to date: Joe and Anthony Russo – whom you may know from heading up various Avengers movies - helped co-direct it. In a statement to The Verge, the Russo brothers said, “It’s been fantastic working with the team at Epic. Fortnite holds a unique place in pop culture, and we think Donald Mustard is a visionary storyteller, who continues to take us all into unexplored territory.” This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Epic team up with esteemed directors, either – back in May 2020, Fortnite screened one of Christopher Nolan’s movies in its entirety. We also saw Thanos, who’s been close to the hearts of the Russo duo, appear in the game back in 2018. Don’t expect this trailer to be the last time Epic calls on cinema giants to promote its games: it’s more than likely we’ve only seen a sliver of the cross-media, cross-IP mega-property Epic is building here, and it’ll likely pull in as many people as possible to make it work in the long run.
