Film and animation adaptations of video games have earned a respectable reputation in recent years. This includes Sonic the Hedgehog, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Arcane, Fallout, The Last of Us, and Twisted Metal. That's only scratching the surface of this saturated market, and Paramount wants to add to the mix with a Call of Duty movie, the first of its kind.
With many more video game movies and shows on the way, like Arcane projects, Assassin's Creed, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, Splinter Cell, and more, Call of Duty immediately grabs attention and sets a high bar for itself. Not necessarily because of masterful video game movies and shows of other IPs that have come before, but because of how gargantuan Call of Duty is. It's one of the best-selling games of all time with a strong and passionate fanbase.
Call of Duty movie is happening
As reported by Variety today, Paramount has signed a deal with Activision to produce a Call of Duty movie. Details beyond this are scarce at this time, but the executives at Paramount sound thrilled.
“As a lifelong fan of Call of Duty, this is truly a dream come true,” Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison says. “From the first Allied campaigns in the original Call of Duty, through Modern Warfare and Black Ops, I’ve spent countless hours playing this franchise that I absolutely love. Being entrusted by Activision and players worldwide to bring this extraordinary storytelling universe to the big screen is both an honor and a responsibility that we don’t take lightly.”
Unlike Minecraft, which had its first live-action adaptation released earlier this year, Call of Duty is aimed at a mature audience, and those adults will have higher expectations. If a Call of Duty film were to disappoint, it could either end up a laughing stock like Sony's Morbius, or incredibly forgettable like the first Assassin's Creed movie back in 2016.
The "video game movie curse" is still a belief chanted among fans as they fear that another Hollywood corporation acquires the rights to their favorite game.
There could be good or bad news to this, depending on how you look at it. This isn't Paramount's first attempt at adapting an FPS game, let alone games as a whole, as they've produced the first Sonic movie.
The Halo television series, which premiered in 2022, received mixed reactions. If you weren't aware of Halo and just wanted a sci-fi show to watch, then it was indeed watchable. But fans were left hungry for an authentic experience. Perhaps now that Paramount has the data on what works or not, they'll be better informed on adapting Call of Duty.
What a Call of Duty movie could look like
Unlike Halo, Call of Duty is getting the blockbuster movie theater event treatment, and that will certainly meet a beefy budget. But what would a Call of Duty movie be about? It'd be a mistake to only use the name and write a generic war story.
With over 30 installments in the video game series, with several sub-IPs like Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and, if you want to count it, Zombies (I would love to see that craziness), Paramount has a wellspring of lore to bring to the silver screen and our home devices. The deal doesn't just mean movies. Per the Variety report, it includes "the potential for Paramount to expand the CoD universe across film and TV." We could be seeing an interconnected CODCU in the making.
As far as visualizing what a film of the war shooter would look like, I'd imagine it'd have a resemblance to A24's Civil War and Netflix's Extraction movie series. It'd be a mix of alternate history, whether past, modern, or future, and bombastic, high-stakes action with incredible stunts.
I'm especially interested in how deep the plot will go into government espionage and conspiracies. It'd be nice to watch a Call of Duty movie with an intelligent script besides just gun-blazing antics, even though that's the main appeal.
Fans of the video games hold a high standard for Call of Duty's story-driven campaigns and how they handle recurring characters like Ghost and Captain Price.
We know nothing of the plot, release date, or anything else, as the deal has just been reported on today. But whenever new updates come out, you'll hear it here on Winter is Coming.