Paramount Signs 'Call of Duty' Movie Deal with Activision

The checkbook continues to heat up at Paramount. While the amount of the deal announced on September 2 with Activision hasn't been revealed, there's no doubt that big money is involved in what Variety calls a "megadeal." Indeed, the major Hollywood studios have obtained the right to "create, produce, and distribute a live-action feature film based on the Call of Duty universe ," reports the California-based entertainment industry magazine.

The first-person shooter franchise is one of the most popular—and profitable—in video game history. The thirty or so titles that make it up have sold more than 500 million copies between its launch in 2003 and its ^20th anniversary. This statistic was obviously of interest to the gaming giant Microsoft when it finalized its purchase of the Activision-Blizzard group two years ago. “But this license had never been adapted into a film or a series until now.”

No further details about the project are available at this time. Sources tell the weekly that "while the deal is focused on making a Call of Duty blockbuster , it also includes the possibility of expanding the universe later on, both on the big and small screens."

Variety sees two lessons in this war booty. On the one hand, Paramount is continuing its strategy of development and "ostentatious announcements, a month after the conclusion of its merger with Skydance, owned by David Ellison [who became CEO of the new conglomerate]," for just under 7 billion euros. On the other hand, after the successes of Super Mario: The Movie and Minecraft: The Movie (to which we will add The Last of Us for the series), video games are clearly a new gold mine for Hollywood. With Call of Duty, it is a dark, violent, and deliberately militaristic universe that will soon be brought to the screen.