In a piece of news that sounds eerily like a scene in The Studio, it has been revealed that Steven Spielberg wanted to make the Call of Duty movie with full creative control. However, Activision, the game’s publisher, got cold feet (for reasons unknown), and jumped ship to sell to Paramount Pictures instead.
Spielberg Loves Call Of Duty
Maybe it’s no surprise that the man who made Saving Private Ryan loves playing Call of Duty. After all, he practically created it. Literally. Medal of Honor, the series that started the FPS genre was created by Steven Spielberg (check it out!, plus he was also creative director for Boom Blox).
But more than just loving FPS games, he loves Call of Duty. In an interview, his son Max said that CoD is Spielberg’s favourite game series. Reportedly, Spielberg “really wanted” to make the Call of Duty film, but perhaps that fervour is what scared of Activision Blizzard King.
Why Did Activision Turn Tail?
Like any billion-dollar-business, Activision wants control over how their brand is percieved. For better or worse, they want to make the decisions. Would a Spielberg Call of Duty movie be way more interesting than anything that Paramount will cook up? No doubt. Will the executives be comfortable handing over their billion-dollar baby to anyone? No.
Still, nothing’s off the table yet, so we could see Scorcese direct instead, but if the Assassin’s Creed movie is anything to go off, don’t get your hopes up.
What’s Paramount Planning?
Paramount CEO David Ellison is a self-proclaimed fan of the series. He’s produced films like Top Gun: Maverick, 6 Underground, and The Adam Project, acted briefly in indie films like The Chumscrubber, and put money up for movies like True Grit and World War Z to get made.
On Call of Duty, he’s said that “Being entrusted by Activision and players worldwide to bring this extraordinary storytelling universe to the big screen is both an honor and a responsibility that we don’t take lightly.”
At this point, we don’t have anything to go off, so we’ll have to wait and see.