Paramount has confirmed what Puck’s Matt Belloni reported last week: a “Call of Duty” movie is officially in development through a new deal with Activision. No director or creative talent is attached yet.
According to three sources, via Puck, Steven Spielberg himself pushed to direct the adaptation. His Amblin partners pitched Activision on Spielberg’s vision for bringing the blockbuster gaming franchise to the big screen. Spielberg, who’s known to be a passionate gamer and a fan of CoD, was all-in.
The problem? The “Spielberg Deal.” That means top-of-market pay, final cut, and full creative and marketing control. Activision — now under Microsoft — wasn’t willing to cede that much power. Instead, they leaned toward David Ellison’s pitch, which gave the company far more oversight of the process.
So Spielberg’s dream of making “Call of Duty” died that day. Now, all eyes are on Paramount to see who they’ll hand the directorial reins to on one of gaming’s most lucrative IPs.
Spielberg recently shot his mysterious sci-fi film, starring Emily Blunt, for Universal, it’s either called “The Dish” or “Disclosure,” both titles have been circulating as possibilities. Other than that one, he has a Frank Bullitt movie in development with Bradley Cooper to star.
For Activision and Paramount, the potential video game adaptstion is too massive to risk on Spielberg. Call of Duty is one of the most successful video game franchises ever, 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.
Harmony Korine — who else — recently weighed in on the subject. A self-professed gaming obsessive, he’s claimed that new advances in video game technology look visually better than anything on film. As he told EW:
it’s almost gone 360. You could look at the Call of Duty trailer now, and it looks better than anything that Spielberg’s ever done.
Turns out, not even Spielberg could get a green light.