A Call of Duty movie could become a reality. The popular video game franchise is a series of first-person shooter games. The original 2003 game was set in World War II, but 2007’s Modern Warfare updated the setting. Over the years, the franchise has expanded to include more than 20 games, with the most recent being 2024’s Black Ops 6.

There has been one previous major attempt to adapt the Call of Duty games. In 2015, Activision Blizzard Studios announced intentions to create a cinematic universe out of the property. It was set to kick off with an installment directed by Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), potentially starring Tom Hardy and Chris Pine, but it was eventually scrapped.

In the latest What I’m Hearing update, Puck journalist Matthew Belloni reports that, following the merger between Skydance Media and Paramount Global, Paramount is looking into acquiring the film rights to the Call of Duty franchise. According to Belloni, this project is a “priority” for new Paramount owner David Ellison, as well as studio chiefs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg.

What This Means For Call Of Duty

While Paramount’s new leadership is resulting in a variety of major changes in their slate, both for film and television, it seems likely that this pursuit of the Call of Duty film rights would not be happening if not for the success of the studio’s Sonic the Hedgehog movies, which have collectively grossed more than $1 billion.

However, Paramount’s other recent video game adaptation had more mixed results. Paramount+ adapted Halo (another military-focused first-person shooter game series, but with a sci-fi twist) into a streaming series in 2022. While the first episode became the streamer’s most-watched global premiere at the time, the show was quickly cancelled after season 2.

It remains to be seen if Paramount can transform the Call of Duty franchise into a movie that can connect with audiences at a consistent level that Halo could not, though if they put the movie out in theaters rather than making it a streaming exclusive, this could give the project a much better opportunity to do so.

Our Take On The Call Of Duty Report

The variety of settings and lack of consistent, widely recognizable characters in the video game franchise could make a Call of Duty movie a creatively difficult prospect. However, should Paramount indeed acquire the rights, the talent they attach could follow the lead of some of the best war movies of recent years by focusing on fresh characters and human-level stakes.

Should their Call of Duty movie get made and become a success, Paramount could have a burgeoning film franchise on their hands. The same factors that make developing the movie challenging in the first place also allow it to have a plethora of unique prequels, spinoffs, and sequels.