Activision Wants to Create a Call of Duty Cinematic Universe, Starting with a Movie Next Year

[Kreett]

So, long story short Activision wants to make war movies now? Can't wait for the slew of ww2 movies that make everyone sick of the era before they make a modern war movie to shock the market only to realize - shit everyone has been making those for 20 odd years now

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I really REALLY want Michael Bay to direct these movies.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Couldn't you just play Saving Private Ryan, Blackhawk Down and Edge of Tomorrow back-to-back and pretty much get the gist of the Call of Duty franchise in a nutshell?

 

[Bedinsis]

The games already, to my understanding, try to ape Hollywood so much that I must ask what the actual point would be?

They'd only be making another war movie, nothing from the games actually making an impact on the final film.

There is however one route that I think could be viable(which was brought to me via Extra Credits): make it entirely in first person. That is a signature of FPSs in general, of which Call Of Duty is the most famous one, and it could provide a potentially bit more interesting perspective. In particular since even the scenes only intended for story in the Call Of Duty single player campaigns still(to my knowledge) is set in first person view, so they have experience in crafting narratives with that limitation.

 

[hermes]

The games already, to my understanding, try to ape Hollywood so much that I must ask what the actual point would be?

They'd only be making another war movie, nothing from the games actually making an impact on the final film.

There is however one route that I think could be viable(which was brought to me via Extra Credits): make it entirely in first person. That is a signature of FPSs in general, of which Call Of Duty is the most famous one, and it could provide a potentially bit more interesting perspective. In particular since even the scenes only intended for story in the Call Of Duty single player campaigns still(to my knowledge) is set in first person view, so they have experience in crafting narratives with that limitation.

Thank you, but please no...

That would be like that scene in the DOOM movie, which was gimmicky, cheap and pointless. It makes it look like a amateur youtube movie and can only work as an action comedy.

 

[Bindal]

Couldn't you just play Saving Private Ryan, Blackhawk Down and Edge of Tomorrow back-to-back and pretty much get the gist of the Call of Duty franchise in a nutshell?

Depends on the franchise. What you described is the Infinity Wards games.
For the Treyarch ones, you would need to replace Black Hawk Down with Apocalypse Now and have something more in the setting of Blade Runner as the fourth movie as Blops 3 somehow decides it's a Cyperpunk game instead halfway through.
Sledgehammer is just one movie.
And Treyarchs Zombies... GO NUTS, ANYTHING GOES! Just make sure to start with a WW2 Comedy and end with some dark-as-shit lovecraftian stuff in the last installment.

 

[Hawki]

Guys, it's easy to concieve how this would work. Say, some movies take place in WWII, others in the modern day, others in the future. All in the same continuity, but all stand-alone, with fans picking up on the connections.

That's not to say that it WILL work, but conceptually, the idea is there.

 

[Natemans]

*eye roll*

I'm not gonna be shocked if Michael Bay directs a film. The guy has a ridiculous fetish for the military. Just look at his terrible Transformers movies.

 

[Kajin]

Sighs. Pulls up bottle of whiskey.

Anyone want some? It's gonna go fast, first come first served.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

How will this turn out any different than any other cut and paste war movie?

This sounds as awesome as making a movie out of Tetris or Battleship. What could possibly go wrong?

I think I'd rather watch the Battleship movie than whatever they have in mind here.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

They're about seven years too late at least.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

What could they possibly make their movies about... The shitty plots of the futuristic CODs? Because those would be the only unique settings they could bring to the table, unless they honestly want to make generic war movies 10 years too late.

 

[Fijiman]

Let's see if I can find a video for how I feel about this.

Spoiler

Yep, that will do it. Seriously though, there's at least a few dozen other games most people would rather see instead of a movie based off of CoD.

 

[PhoenixMaster]

And with what other series do you plan on turning into movies that'll share this so called cinematic universe with Call of Duty Activision? Destiny? Skylanders? If its all just about CoD, that ain't a cinematic universe, its just one series of movies. I find it ironic that the video game series that has spawn a number of FPS clones is trying to copy Marvel's success.

 

[Zontar]

You know what, despite how I feel about the games themselves I'm going to take the unpopular opinion and say this could actually work.

Think about this: the quality of movie adaptations based on games is almost inversely proportional to how much actual story those games have due to the limitations placed on the makers of the movie. Call of Duty has little story, but much of what it does have is actually quite interesting as speculative military fiction. There's a reason why fans keep trying to figure out what the timeline order of the games are.

The concept of CoD is honestly in a very good position for movies given how it has enough story to be the foundation of a story for different conflicts between WW2 into the modern day and near-future, without having said story be so large in scope that it limits what the writers can do with it.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think it could work.

 

[Chaosian]

You know what, despite how I feel about the games themselves I'm going to take the unpopular opinion and say this could actually work.

Think about this: the quality of movie adaptations based on games is almost inversely proportional to how much actual story those games have due to the limitations placed on the makers of the movie. Call of Duty has little story, but much of what it does have is actually quite interesting as speculative military fiction. There's a reason why fans keep trying to figure out what the timeline order of the games are.

The concept of CoD is honestly in a very good position for movies given how it has enough story to be the foundation of a story for different conflicts between WW2 into the modern day and near-future, without having said story be so large in scope that it limits what the writers can do with it.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think it could work.

I think Moviebob is more than a bit of a tool now, but when he was here on the Escapist he said something that is quite estute- "You could make a good movie out of just about anything". You COULD, make a good speculative fiction war film and call it "Call out Duty". I don't think that's really in the cards though when the starting point is: "Let's make a cinematic universe".

 

[Neverhoodian]

Oh Christ, not another ham-fisted attempt at a "cinematic universe." This dumpster fire in the making's already starting to smoulder, I can tell.

Ever since Marvel and Lucasfilm struck gold the rest of Hollywood is determined to run the concept into the ground and ruin it for everyone, just like it does for all cinematic trends.

 

[Kyrian007]

The games already, to my understanding, try to ape Hollywood so much that I must ask what the actual point would be?

They'd only be making another war movie, nothing from the games actually making an impact on the final film.

There is however one route that I think could be viable(which was brought to me via Extra Credits): make it entirely in first person. That is a signature of FPSs in general, of which Call Of Duty is the most famous one, and it could provide a potentially bit more interesting perspective. In particular since even the scenes only intended for story in the Call Of Duty single player campaigns still(to my knowledge) is set in first person view, so they have experience in crafting narratives with that limitation.

Thank you, but please no...

That would be like that scene in the DOOM movie, which was gimmicky, cheap and pointless. It makes it look like a amateur youtube movie and can only work as an action comedy.

That is the one way I can see it working. Specifically as a self-aware action comedy. As a ww2 action comedy it crosses that "edgy and offensive" line pretty easily, so it would appeal to the South Park crowd. And damn near every webcomic out now overdoes the comedy premise "video game tropes, but in real life" so it gets that crowd. Jokes about no soldiers moving until one low level grunt does, and all the action happens around that one guy, soldiers on both sides just standing around not doing anything until that one guy shows up, an 8 minute segment of one sniper just sighting one spawn (I mean choke) point and picking off guys until someone sneaks up on him and shoots him and teabags...

Ehh, I'm making myself sick just pondering it. But it works better than taking CoD seriously. But good luck getting Activision to take the piss out of their bread and butter franchise... so it will fail miserably.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Someone tell Activision that The Expendables is already a thing.

 

[Zulnam]

Activision makes movie.

It has 60 minutes run time.
Every 2 months they release a bonus extra scene for 4$.
Also the character in the first 10 minutes that you think is the protagonist? He dies.