Peter Berg to Direct ‘Call of Duty’ Movie; Taylor Sheridan Co-Writing for Paramount

A few weeks ago, Paramount confirmed that a “Call of Duty” movie was officially in development through a new deal with Activision. No director or creative talent was attached at the time.

Here’s a bombshell courtesy of Deadline: Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg will co-write the script, with Berg on board to direct.

Berg and Sheridan are lifelong friends who have been eyeing a collaboration on a new project together. In terms of uncharted IP, it doesn’t get any bigger than “Call of Duty.”

It was only a few weeks ago that Puck revealed that none other than Steven Spielberg had pitched himself to direct the adaptation. His Amblin partners had presented Activision with Spielberg’s vision for bringing the blockbuster gaming franchise to the big screen. Spielberg, known to be a passionate gamer and a fan of “CoD,” was all in. The problem? The “Spielberg Deal.” That meant top-of-market pay, final cut, and full creative and marketing control. Activision — now under Microsoft — wasn’t willing to cede that much power.

So Spielberg’s dream of making “Call of Duty” died that day. Now, all eyes are on Sheridan and Berg. For Activision and Paramount, the potential of this video game adaptation is massive.

“Call of Duty” is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, having sold more than 400 million copies worldwide since 2003. Known for its cinematic first-person shooter campaigns and wildly popular multiplayer modes, the franchise has become a cultural juggernaut. A movie adaptation has long been seen as inevitable.

Is Berg a good fit? His films have been, much like Sheridan’s output, very attuned to rural, conservative America — blue-collar, middle-class heroes on duty, serving and protecting. Berg’s “Lone Survivor” followed that mold, and it was a stellar war movie. I also quite liked “Patriots Day,” his meticulous account of the Boston Marathon bombings. However, Berg’s been stuck in a rut of late with two consecutive duds, one of them a Netflix abomination (“Spenser Confidential”) and the other a failed CIA military flick (“Mile 22”).

As for Sheridan, he’s still at Paramount until his contract runs out and he heads to Universal, so this “Call of Duty” movie might very well be his last hurrah at the studio. All parties involved will want to go out with a bang.