Historically, “The War of the Currents” refers to the late 19th century introduction of electricity through competing transmission systems, setting the Westinghouse Electric Company’s preference for alternating-current (AC) against the Edison Electric Light Company’s direct-current (DC) approach.The Current War, however, is The Weinstein Company’s dramatic interpretation of these events, as revealed in the film’s first trailer.
Benedict Cumberbatchstars as Thomas Edison, with a significantly better American accent than hisDoctor Strangeattempt, whileMichael Shannongrowls through a lustrous mustache as George Westinghouse. The party really gets started onceNicholas Hoult’s take on Nikola Tesla shows up, but the trailer wisely keeps him mostly in the shadows until the science/cultural icon can take center stage.
Alfonso Gomez-Rejonalso directsKatherine Waterston,Tom Holland,Tuppence Middleton, andMatthew Macfadyen.The Current Warwill screen atTIFF 2017before opening in U.S. theaters on June 19, 2025.
Check out the first trailer forThe Current Warbelow:
Here’s the synopsis forThe Current War:
The Current War is a dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.
Gomez-Rejon’s follow-up toMe and Earl and the Dying Girlcertainly feels, dare I say it, electric. You can 100% expect an over-dramatization of historical events but there’s a lot of rich storytelling to mine here. It’s a rare commercial film that tackles something as, on the surface, mundane as electricity, but that’s a modern convenience that citizens of developed countries take for granted all too often. It’s there at the flick of a switch; it’s allowing me to write this article and you to read it. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact it’s only been about 125 years since America’s gas-powered utilities began to embrace the path of progress, a path fraught with misinformation, unfounded fear, and cutthroat competition.The Current Warseeks to play on that drama. Sign me up!
