Back in 2013 Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said that they weren’t interested in a Call of Duty movie & now after few years, they are planning for a Call of Duty Cinematic Universe.
The Guardian sat down with Activision Blizzard Studios Co-Presidents, Stacey Sher and Nick Van Dyk for an interview to talk about the plans for Call of Duty Universe.
“We have plotted out many years. We put together this group of writers to talk about where we were going. 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,” said Sher.
Van Dyk adds: “It’s going to have the same sort of high-adrenaline, high-energy aesthetic as the game, but it’s not a literal adaptation.
It’s a much more broad and inclusive, global in scope … a big, tentpole Marvel-esque movie.”
Sher and Van Dyk are the best team for Activision’s plans for a Call of Duty Cinematic Universe.
Sher has been in movie business since 1988 serving as executive producer and lead producer in movies such as Heartbreak Hotel (1988), Pulp Fiction (1994), Man on the Moon (1999), Reno 911!: Miami (2007), Django Unchained (2012), The Hateful Eight (2015) and more!
And her co-president, Van Dyk was a senior executive at Disney, he played a key role in acquiring and developing the Marvel and Star Wars Universe, both of which are critically and commercially very successful.
Van Dyk aims to emulate Call of Duty Cinematic Universe the way Marvel has created “these individual universes that interconnect and a timeline that makes sense with consistent themes and Easter eggs”.
Modern Warfare and Black Ops are on of the many story lines within Call of Duty franchise and though the films may carry the same names, but they won’t be direct adaptations of the game’s stories.
Additionally, the pair is planning to bring World War 2 and Vietnam-era stories to Television and of course they are well aware, that to create a long-lasting franchise, you need more than just a recognizable brand name and a lot more than a good source material.
“If you look at Marvel, they started working when you had Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, and real film-makers on board as well.
What I think made The Avengers so great was the writing and directing. You cared about those characters,” Sher says.
“If you just chase the empty blockbuster, and have nothing to say in the genre, forget about it.”
Which Call of Duty games should be made into movies? Sound off in the comments below!