Call of Duty comes to the movies

The first-person shooter Call of Duty is coming to the big screen. Skydance subsidiary Paramount and Microsoft subsidiary Activision Blizzard have reached an agreement. A movie with real actors (live action) is planned.

This was announced by Paramount on Tuesday. The announcement does not contain any details on the schedule, the production budget, or which parts of the Call of Duty world the film will be based on. Call of Duty is one of the most successful computer games in history. More than 20 different game titles have been released since 2003, plus an even larger number of versions for mobile devices. Activision Blizzard has thus managed to produce the best-selling computer game in the USA for 16 years in a row.

Call of Duty titles have sold more than half a billion copies worldwide. In addition, there are well over one billion downloads of "Call of Duty: Mobile".

New fans wanted

Paramount will develop, produce and distribute the movie. The product is to be based on the style of the game series and not only appeal to die-hard fans, but also tap into new target groups. Paramount CEO David Ellison says: "As a lifelong fan of Call of Duty, this really is a dream come true." He himself has spent "countless hours playing this franchise that I absolutely love".

"We're approaching this movie with the same disciplined, uncompromising commitment to excellence that guided our work on 'Top Gun: Maverick'," he mentions an aerial combat movie produced three years ago. Its budget is said to have been over 170 million US dollars. That's a lot of money, but only a fraction of the cost of a game title in the Call of Duty series.

Activision President Rob Kostich has high expectations: "Our shared goal is quite simple – to create an unforgettable blockbuster experience that our gaming community will love, and that will also stimulate and inspire new fans of the franchise."

Fusion Wave

The game studio Activision Blizzard recently became part of the Microsoft Group, the takeover was worth almost 69 billion US dollars. The recent takeover of Paramount by Skydance was significantly smaller, with a value of only around eight billion dollars. Both mergers were controversial.

However, Microsoft was able to prevail in court against the US competition authority FTC (Federal Trade Commission). And following a payment of 16 million dollars from Paramount subsidiary CBS to US President Donald Trump, the US broadcasting regulator FCC (Federal Communications Commission) dropped its opposition to the Paramount takeover.

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