Today I was reminded that Activision Blizzard Studios is not a game-making division of the industry's biggest publisher, but rather a film studio—one that's working on a flick based on Call of Duty. And according to Variety, Sicario 2: Soldado director Stefano Sollima is in negotiations to direct.
The report doesn't specify which Call of Duty, but the trailer for Sicario 2 (which looks quite a bit more action-oriented than the excellent first film, and is apparently a "stand-alone spinoff" rather than a direct sequel) suggests that Sollima has a certain talent for "modern" settings. Not to put too fine a point on it, but let's be honest, you could rename that trailer to "Modern Warfare: The Movie" and your work here would be done.
Whatever it ends up being, Acti-Blizz is aiming very high, for both the film and the studio: In an interview with The Guardian last year, co-presidents Stacey Sheri and Nick van Dyk said their long-term plans included films from different Call of Duty timelines that would ultimate grow into an interconnected, Marvel-style cinematic universe.
First, though, it has to break the videogame movie curse, which despite our endless appetite for summer blockbusters and the obvious fodder for them that CoD provides, will be no small task. Sher has an admirable list of production credits to her name and Sollima has an eye for dramatic poses and cinematic violence, but as we've seen time and again, that's no guarantee of a good movie.
Thanks, GamesRadar.
