Although it might not yet have anything concrete to show off, Paramount just made one of the biggest streaming announcements we've seen in a very long time. It confirmed this week that it's entered into an agreement with Activision, the gaming publisher now owned by Xbox, to develop a blockbuster movie based on the Call of Duty (COD) franchise.
By almost any metric, COD games are among the biggest in the world, consistently topping sales charts year after year, and drawing in at times hundreds of millions of gamers to their adrenaline-filled arenas. They've also long had campaign segments that scratch the military thriller itch, so it's very easy to imagine how Paramount might go about adapting these into a true blockbuster format.
In fact, as someone who grew up playing the very first COD games, and who has played almost every title in the series, I've found it fascinating to think about which games Paramount might turn to first. There are multiple sub-franchises and storylines on offer, so I've run up a list of the adaptations that I think might be most credible (and successful).
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
The game that exploded Call of Duty's popularity in a way that never dimmed, COD4 was a staggering step forward for the series, bringing it into the modern era for the first time after a few games set in World War II. The game has a pretty textbook modern military thriller plot, too, involving nuclear secrets going back decades, and would be a straightforward adaptation in my view.
It has some classic moments to offer up, from the bombastic laser-filled night vision of the American offensive near the game's start, to the truly iconic stealth sniper mission "All Ghillied Up", which could make for an incredibly tense sequence if filmed smartly. It would all need some streamlining to fit into a reasonable runtime, but the fundamentals are all there, along with huge fondness from the fanbase.
Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
The game that launched the now pretty much equal-standing sub-brand of Black Ops, this one would be a slightly different proposition for Paramount, and I don't expect it to happen until the franchise is established in cinemas.
It's set in the Vietnam War and is way twistier and more surreal than the mainline Modern Warfare games, focusing on topics like MK Ultra and soldier conditioning to tell a story of embedded spies and conspiracies. With a far more out-there visual style, though, it could have something special to offer if adapted cleverly.
After all, iconic lines like "the numbers Mason, what do they mean?" have resonated with fans for over a decade so far, demonstrating the amount of staying power the story has.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
While it might seem odd to start with the plot of a sequel, and on some level it would be, I also think there's a lot about the storyline in Modern Warfare 2 that could work a treat for the big screen. It's really not as tied into the first MW game as you might think, too.
It's got the gung-ho cultural imperialism that's a hallmark (and curse) of the wider series, but MW2 also has some genuinely fun twists, and if Activision wanted genuinely radioactive levels of publicity then the No Russian mission is a guaranteed talking point.
More to the point, MW2 has potentially the best ending of any game in the long-running series, with a gut-punch death and immediate karma for the surprise villain, and the themes of American hubris that it plays with could be surprisingly relevant today.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
The final option, and the one that I think Activision is almost certainly looking at most closely is the 2019 reboot of the Modern Warfare series. I reckon it's almost certainly the most likely game to be used. It's recent enough to be fresh in mind for more than one generation of gamers, sold copies like gangbusters, and still represents the high-water mark of quality for the series in roughly the last decade.
Story-wise, it's familiar stuff, but broadens out the base of characters to include more than just American and UK soldiers (albeit not by a lot). The story isn't as memorable as those told by earlier games in the franchise, though, in particularly because it knowingly spins things out for later sequels, rather than aiming for a tight tale in its own right.
The visual identity of the game is its huge strength, though, with night-vision missions that stick in the memory for their authenticity, and a realism to its lighting that ensured some of its missions look better than equivalents in games from years later. Plus, it brought in some A-grade motion-capture work that elevated its cut-scenes massively, and cast a load of actors who could almost certainly claim their roles seamlessly (not least Barry Sloane as Captain Phillips – stick him in a trailer saying "Bravo 6, going dark" and you've got a guaranteed hit).
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