Video game adaptations have improved greatly in recent years, and while there's still the odd dud, the genre finally seems to be getting its due on both the big and small screens.
A Minecraft Movie wasn't a critical hit when it opened earlier this year, but it is set to be one of the biggest box office successes of 2025. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was well-received on both fronts; the likes of The Last of Us and Fallout, meanwhile, have received widespread acclaim on television.
According to Puck (via GameFragger.com), Call of Duty is next for the live-action treatment. The site reports that Paramount Pictures is in talks to acquire the movie rights to the long-running video game series, and while it's still very early days, this is a promising sign.
There's no word on which game would be adapted or whether this will be an original story. War movies aren't as popular as they once were, something that was evident from A24's Warfare this year (it grossed $33 million on a $20 million budget).
The Call of Duty franchise, developed primarily by Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games, began with Call of Duty in 2003. Initially a PC World War II first-person shooter, it focused on realistic military campaigns. Its success led to Call of Duty 2, with Call of Duty 3 following.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a game-changer (no pun intended), which shifted to modern settings, introducing iconic characters like Captain Price and a cinematic single-player campaign. Its multiplayer mode revolutionised online gaming, and World at War introduced the now-iconic zombie mode.
The series has since continued with Black Ops, Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, Infinite Warfare, and more (the latter leaned into science fiction, dividing opinions, in the process).
We later returned to World War II and got a Modern Warfare reboot. The series has gone from strength to strength, but continues to be criticised for short single-player campaigns. However, while it is primarily a multiplayer title at this stage, there are plenty of characters and ideas this movie could mine for a compelling narrative that enhances what should be an epic action movie.
Earlier this year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was asked for his thoughts on a possible Call of Duty movie. "The video game business is successful by itself. It doesn’t need this outlet," he said. "Let’s never turn this into something where every franchise has to have a game or a movie or a TV show. It’s got to be about the creative outlet that linear media offers for our franchises."
"We’re learning and growing through this process, which is giving us more confidence that we should do more," he continued. "It’s hard for me to tease any specific thing, because while I know all of these things that are in the creative process, I want to give them time and I don’t want to put any undue pressure on them."
Spencer added that any adaptations Xbox works on require a team having "a unique point of view around what they want to get done" and finding a partner that "really understands the franchise and the core of what these worlds are."
Which Call of Duty game would you like to see adapted for the big screen?