Call of Duty Marches to the Big Screen with Paramount and Activision’s Blockbuster Bet

Since Call of Duty has been a cultural phenomenon for almost 20 years, today, September 2, 2025 is a big day for fans of the franchise. With Activision, Skydance (formerly Paramount) is officially bringing the Call of Duty world to life in a live-action movie.

Paramount’s chairman and CEO David Ellison didn’t beat around the bush about how excited he is for the project. Ellison, a self-described fan of Call of Duty, has played every campaign in the game, from World War II in the original editions to Modern Warfare and Black Ops. His own enthusiasm for the brand drives the company to produce a movie that honors the past while welcoming newcomers to the fast-paced world. Ellison’s success with Top Gun: Maverick, which combined action with superb storyline, sets a high standard for subsequent movies. He promises that fans and newbies alike will appreciate the movie just as much.

Activision, now part of the Microsoft gaming empire, will be a creative partner on this project. Rob Kostich, president of Activision, said they need to keep the series’ intensity and narrative depth. Call of Duty has always been about telling great stories, whether it’s soldiers fighting impossible odds or secret operatives uncovering global conspiracies. The movie will capture that by delivering the action and emotional stakes that have kept gamers hooked since 2003.

Activision has tried to get Call of Duty into theaters before. In 2015, the now defunct Blizzard Studios announced a movie universe with Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) directing and Chris Pine and Tom Hardy possibly starring. Fans were left wondering if the series would ever get a cinematic treatment when that project failed by 2020. After their $8 billion merger with Skydance, Paramount is taking risks. They acquired the Duffer Brothers from Netflix, paid $7.7 billion for the UFC rights and now they’re betting big on Call of Duty. Maybe the success of their Sonic the Hedgehog movies ($1 billion worldwide) gave them the confidence to take on another video game giant.

Fans are left to wonder what form this will take because there’s not much info on the movie yet, including the director, actors and release date. Will it be Cold War intrigue with characters like Alex Mason from Black Ops or will it be from classic subseries like Modern Warfare with characters like Captain Price? Like the Fallout TV series, there’s also a chance it’ll be an original story in the Call of Duty universe. According to Variety the deal includes TV series and more movies so Paramount sees this as the start of a bigger franchise. This flexibility could allow them to explore the series’ many settings, from near-futuristic wars to historical battlefields.
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