Paramount is reportedly in talks to acquire rights of this $35 billion+ franchise, details explored

Over a decade after Activision announced the plans for film adaptations, Paramount has reportedly acquired the rights to the Call of Duty franchise, which has earned over $35 billion in total lifetime revenue.

The update comes from Matt Belloni's latest newsletter for Puck News, where he shared some details about Paramount's reported deal for the video game franchise and the executives involved in this deal.

"Now, per two sources, Paramount is negotiating to acquire film rights to an even bigger game property: Call of Duty. No talent is attached yet (agents, prep your pitches!), and the first-person shooter I.P. seems pretty tough to adapt, but it’s said to be a priority for Ellison and his studio chiefs, Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, and an indicator of the kind of youth-skewing game franchises he wants to pursue."

He continued,

"Back in 2015, Activision announced a CoD “cinematic universe,” but by 2020 those plans had fizzled."

While Belloni has revealed these details, Paramount or Activision hasn't confirmed anything on this topic as of yet. Belloni says that the studio is "keeping quiet on this one," but he seems hopeful, considering the studio's past with Sonic the Hedgehog, which has been a lucrative game-to-movie franchise for them over the years.

Before Paramount's reported deal, the Sicario 2 director was expected to work on a Call of Duty movie

Paramount Global logo - Source: Getty

As per Matt Belloni's newsletter, in 2015, Activision planned to turn its popular game franchise into a warfare movie, long before Paramount entered the picture. A few years later, Stefano Sollima, the Italian director of Sicario: Day of the Soldado, was going to helm the project and turn it into a "soldier film" instead of a "war film," as per a Polygon report.

Upon the release of Sicario 2, Sollima spoke with Polygon about what appeals to him about the Call of Duty franchise. He shed light on what kind of Call of Duty movie he would like to make, saying,

“It’s going to be completely different. I think the trickiest part in doing a movie from a video game is that you’re doing a movie from a video game. But if you figure out how to respect the soul of the entire franchise, and keeping just this and putting in a movie, it’s a completely different experience.”

When asked about what kind of warfare-led film he would like to make, the Italian director stated,

“Let’s put it this way. Another kind of movie that’s missed … is a movie that talks about soldiers. So, not a war movie, but a soldier movie. I think that this is what I will do. I think it’s a missing part. [There have recently been] some movies [about] soldiers, but only some of them are masterpieces. I think I miss modern [soldier movies]. As an audience.”

Eventually, the plans for this cinematic universe fizzled out. As per Puck News, no creative talent has been roped in as of yet for Paramount's potential future projects. Hopefully, the studio will shed light on this topic related to this $35 billion+ franchise and reveal what creative direction it will be heading in the near future.