Paramount has just signed a deal with Microsoft and Activision to make a movie based on the iconic Call of Duty franchise. The valuation of the deal hasn’t been revealed, but CoD is a mighty lucrative IP.
We don’t know much about the specifics of the deal, other than it covers a live-action feature film that Paramount will develop, produce and distribute. This means we don’t have any information about the cast, creative team or what game or era the film will pull from.
After all, there have been more than 30 mainline games in the franchise. Some of the standard Call of Duty games could make for decent, yet slightly derivative, war movies, while the more futuristic titles could spin out into sci-fi epics.
Variety reports that this could just be the beginning. The deal is for one movie but industry sources indicate that there’s potential here for Paramount to expand the franchise to more movies and TV shows. Get ready for the CoDCU.
Paramount recently completed an $8 billion merger with Skydance, after making some controversial moves that were widely seen as appeasements to President Trump to secure the blessing of the FCC. Since that happened, the newly-formed media conglomerate has been on a spending spree.
It lured the creators of Stranger Things away from Netflix and shelled out over $7.7 billion for exclusive rights to UFC events for the next seven years. The company recently announced plans to double its yearly theatrical output, eventually hoping to release 20 films annually. As for games, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives on November 14.
