Fortnite developer Epic Games is currently in a legal battle with Apple, and one of their opening salvos against the company was releasing the short film Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite. The film, below, was a parody of Apple’s 1984 commercial for the Macintosh, which evoked George Orwell’s famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The commercial, which introduced the Apple Macintosh ahead of its release, aired at third quarter time during Super Bowl XVIII in 1984. It is one of the most famous commercials ever, and it was directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, The Martian). Now, the director has weighed in on Epic’s version of his commercial–and while he appreciates the homage, he finds the message wanting.
Speaking to IGN, Scott said that he is aware of the trailer, and that he wrote to Epic about it. “On the one hand I can be fully complimented by the fact they copied [my commercial] shot for shot,” he told IGN. “But pity the message is so ordinary when they could have been talking about democracy or more powerful things.”
Continuing on, the director said that while the animation and idea are “terrific,” he does not think the message is particularly strong–or, to use his specific wording, the message is “ehh”.
Fortnite’s new season is not playable on mobile devices. Season 4 is called Nexus War, and it introduces Marvel characters to the fray. A judge recently denied Epic Games’ attempt to have the game returned to Apple’s App Store.
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