Oh, what could have been. Paramount and Activision are currently working together to create a film based off of the popular Call of Duty franchise. There is no word on who will direct the film, nor who will star in it, nor even if it will follow the plot of any of the games or be its own thing.
Now we're learning that prior to the deal being made with Paramount, Activision was allegedly in talks with direct Steven Spielberg for a Call of Duty film. This information comes from Puck, which is obviously not an official source and should be taken with a grain of salt.
The outlet cites three different sources who say, "Spielberg really wanted to direct the CoD movie and his Amblin teamed with Universal dealmaker Jimmy Horowitz to present the filmmaker’s vision for one of the world’s biggest gaming franchises."
The potential deal between Spielberg and Activision fell apart because Activision did not want to abide by Spielberg's requirements. Those requirements being that Spielberg had final say over the final cut of the film, full control over production, and full control over marketing among other stipulations.
These requirements gave Activision pause and ultimately pushed them to go with Paramount and a pitch from David Ellison. The pitch from Ellison and Paramount gave Activision more control over the movie.
Spielberg has had his hand in several projects that had a focus on war. These credits include being the director for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. Spielberg was the executive producer on Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Masters of the Air. Spielberg also created the concept, produced, and wrote the story for the original Medal of Honor. Medal of Honor was a 1999 first-person shooter published by Electronic Arts for the original PlayStation and it was fantastic.
