Activision Discusses Call of Duty Movies, "If the Script and the Story Isn't Right We Won't Do It"

Call of Duty is one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world and the latest installment, Call of Duty: WWII, was released earlier this month. As with all great game franchises, many have speculated as to whether we might see an adaptation to the big screen and it seems that is indeed happening.

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It was announced in 2015 that publisher Activision was in talks regarding adaptations of the games and now Activision’s Tim Kilpin has revealed how the company is approaching the idea of a Call of Duty film. Kiplin is in charge of the Consumer Products Group and said a lot of thought is going in to the adaptation.

Speaking with MCV, he said: “Anytime you take a franchise as storied as this, with this kind of legacy, and expand it into a new form factor you have to be really careful. So frankly, if the script and the story isn’t right we won’t do it; it’s not one of those situations where someone is saying, ‘I don’t care just get it made!’; that’s not what’s happening. We do think that if it’s done well it has the opportunity to expand the base audience, beyond the traditional foundation that the game appeals to.”

Given that the Call of Duty series is rated M for mature, Kilpin expressed hope that a Call of Duty movie might broaden the audience for the series. “As an M-rated game, it’s a core audience and we do think there’s an opportunity to reach a little more broadly than that; if the storytelling is done well, that’s the key,” he said.

Activision is hoping to create several movies based on the franchise in a shared universe, similar to Marvel’s cinematic series. In terms of tone, the films will apparently be similar to the games.