A Call of Duty Cinematic Universe? Someone better phone Marvel!

Call of Duty has been caught in the rumor mill for a while now, when it comes to a movie adaptation. Since there is a recent renewal in video games-based movies, with Assasin’s Creed and Warcraft, it is no wonder that Activision’s golden goose would be considered a contender. This week, Activision Blizzard co-presidents, Stacey Sher and Nick van Dyck, have shared the idea of a – gulp! – cinematic universe for Call of Duty!

They seem to be aiming for the movies to be globally distributed and they are planning to use Easter eggs and references to keep the films connected inside this universe. In their own words: “There’ll be a film that feels more like Black Ops, the story behind the story. The Modern Warfare series looks at what it’s like to fight a war with the eyes of the world on you. And then maybe something that is more of a hybrid, where you are looking at private, covert operations, while a public operation is going on”.

Supposedly there already exist several scrips for these films, some of them based on actual games from the series. They even have a timeline for the releases. As they say, the adaptations will not be literal, but they will be broad, inclusive and global.

There are some talks of the first Call of Duty film already getting a release next year. Now, this is all rather ambitious and we can applaud Activision Blizzard on that, but they seem to be forgetting one thing. The Marvel Universe is based on well-known, established characters, that even kids in a third-world country can name. The same could not be said for the grunts of a world-wide popular FPS, now, could it?

Far be it from us to tell large companies how to run their business. If Activision Blizzard wants a Call of Duty cinematic universe, let them march right ahead. We will keep a lookout, do not worry.