There's a lot of excitement surrounding Paramount Pictures' Call of Duty movie, though the news that Peter Berg is at the helm has drawn mixed reactions.
The Friday Night Lights helmer is no stranger to military action, having directed titles like Lone Survivor and The Kingdom. However, the likes of Battleship and Spenser Confidential didn't receive the warmest of responses. On a more positive note, Yellowstone and Landman scribe Taylor Sheridan has co-written the screenplay, which does bode well for the project.
It was recently confirmed that the Call of Duty movie will draw inspiration from the Modern Warfare games, and Berg has now shed new light on how he's planning to approach the property. His biggest priority? Avoiding what he sees as the trappings of comic book movies and their less complex characters.
"If you really look at the missions and the storylines and the characters like Captain Price, Soap, Ghost and Alex, these are complicated humans. These are not, and no disrespect, cartoon characters or comic books," Berg told ComicBook.com (via GameFragger.com). "These are very nuanced storylines; there’s a real soul to the 'Modern Warfare' universe."
"Yes, there’s violence and hardware and equipment and killing," he continued. "But underneath it, I think the game, and the creators of the game, are really looking at the cost of war, the cost of having to be a warrior who’s, for whatever reason, chosen to put himself between real danger and the rest of us, and the burden that these guys carry."
The world of Call of Duty is grounded, albeit heightened, so these comments from Berg are definitely interesting (albeit somewhat disrespectful to the superhero genre).
Berg's movie was first announced in September 2025, with it said at the time that Paramount had plans to expand the property across film and television. Call of Duty has the potential to be a great movie, and while some fans were disappointed to learn that the franchise is moving away from its World War II roots, a present-day setting is arguably a better option than the games set in the near future.
Paramount CEO David Ellison previously said that the studio is approaching the film "with the same disciplined, uncompromising commitment to excellence that guided our work on Top Gun: Maverick, ensuring it meets the exceptionally high standards this franchise and its fans deserve."
“I can promise that we are resolute in our mission to deliver a cinematic experience that honors the legacy of this one-in-a-million brand – thrilling longtime fans of Call of Duty while captivating a whole new generation," he added.
Call of Duty is set to be released in theaters on June 30. 2028.