A new report claims that legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg wanted to make a Call of Duty movie. However, the leak also revealed the surprising reason Activision and Microsoft scrapped the CoD film project.
Steven Spielberg’s Call of Duty Film Fumbled by Activision
If you are reading this headline and doing a double-take, I get it. But it’s true! A new report claims that the Steven Spielberg wanted to make a Call of Duty movie. However, according to a film industry insider, the project fell apart when Activision didn’t want to give Spielberg full control. Specifically, they didn’t want the director to have the final say over the film’s production and marketing.
“Spielberg wanted to direct Call of Duty. Per three sources, Steven Spielberg really wanted to direct the CoD movie. But with Spielberg comes the famous Spielberg Deal. This includes top-of-market economics, final cut, and full control over production and marketing. That spooked the team from Activision, now owned by Microsoft, which instead went with David Ellison’s pitch that offered much more control over the process.”
So yeah, it appears that both Activision and Microsoft wanted tighter control over the project. While the film leak is from a pretty credible source, take this with a major grain of salt. However, a Call of Duty film was recently confirmed to be in the works, so this latest update seems to have steam. If true, it’s pretty incredible that Activision would walk away from Steven Spielberg, who infamously made one of the best war films of all time, Saving Private Ryan.
What We Know About the CoD Movie
Besides the fact that we lost out on Steven Spielberg, there is still a lot unknown about the CoD movie. After months of rumors, the project was officially confirmed in a September 3 report by Deadline. According to the press release, Paramount had signed a multi-million dollar deal with Activision to bring the popular FPS franchise to the big screen.
Paramount CEO David Ellison issued a statement describing the studio’s vision for the project.
“As a lifelong fan of Call of Duty, this is truly a dream come true. From the first Allied campaigns in the original Call of Duty, through Modern Warfare and Black Ops, I’ve spent countless hours playing this franchise that I absolutely love. Being entrusted by Activision and players worldwide to bring this extraordinary storytelling universe to the big screen is both an honor and a responsibility that we don’t take lightly.”
The studio executive used Top Gun: Maverick as an example of the quality fans could expect from the CoD movie. While all of that sounds good on the surface, it still really stings that we almost got Steven Spielberg. Seriously, I can’t think of a better director to take on a project like this.
At the time of writing, there has been no release window for the Call of Duty movie. It’s still in the early production phase and hasn’t begun filming. This isn’t the first major game franchise to get a film adaptation announced this year. In August, it was revealed that Zac Cregger will be rebooting the Resident Evil film franchise with an original movie in 2026.
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