"Call of Duty" Movie in Works

Paramount has signed a film deal with the Microsoft-owned video game publisher Activision to bring its “Call of Duty” franchise to the big screen.

Under the partnership, Paramount will develop, produce, and distribute a live-action film based on the “Call of Duty” universe, which encompasses over 30 mainline games released since the original “CoD” debuted in 2003. 

The valuation of the mega deal was not disclosed.

While the pact is specifically focused on making a blockbuster “Call of Duty” movie, sources says the deal encompasses the potential for Paramount to expand the “CoD” universe across film and TV.

There are no details yet on what the focus of the “Call of Duty” feature will be, though the video game franchise is at its core a series of first-person shooter military titles. 

Many of the games have interconnected storylines and characters like the “Black Ops” sub series from developer Treyarch, which is set to release “Black Ops 7” this fall.

The “Call of Duty” deal comes a month after Paramount closed its $8 billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance and is the latest in a line of splashy moves. 

Since the merger was approved, the company lured “Stranger Things” creators the Duffer Brothers over from Netflix in a $7.7 billion deal to become the home of Ultimate Fighting Championship events for seven years.

Now settled within Microsoft Gaming, Activision was itself part of a mega-merger two years ago, when Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, which gave the tech company control over “Call of Duty” and many other popular video games.

For years, Hollywood struggled to crack video game adaptations, but more recently it has found success, producing hit screen adaptations of “Mortal Kombat,” “Super Mario Bros.” and, this year, “A Minecraft Movie.” 

Paramount has previously scored massive success with its adaptation of “Sonic the Hedgehog,” which has spawned sequels and spinoff streaming shows.

With “Call of Duty,” it gets access to not only the most successful video game franchises of all-time, one that has sold 500 million copies globally and drew $30 billion in revenue as of 2022, but also a video game franchise that has not previously been adapted for film or TV.