According to one report, Activision has said “no” to a CoD movie adaptation by master director Steven Spielberg.
If you play Call of Duty on PC, there’s a chance that you’ll be shaved by none other than Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. We’re not kidding: the director of classic films such as Saving Private Ryan, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jaws is a big fan of the shooter series!
His passion for CoD even goes so far that he wanted to make a movie adaptation of CoD himself, according to a new report from PuckNews.
He is said to have delivered a rather enthusiastic pitch and is described as very passionate about the potential of such a project.
The problem: Activision said no.
Why Steven Spielberg can’t make a Call of Duty movie
What problem did the publisher have with Spielberg as a potential CoD director? Quite simply, Activision didn’t want to give one of the greatest filmmakers of all time complete creative control over the movie adaptation of Call of Duty.
If a contract had been signed, it would only have been under the terms of the infamous Hollywood “Spielberg deal.” This means that Steven Spielberg would have had complete creative control over the production, marketing, and final cut of the film.
Such conditions are actually the exception rather than the rule in the film industry. Normally, producers and film studios always have a say or two when it comes to the final direction and implementation of a production. This can certainly benefit films, but it can also completely ruin them.
CoD fans are stunned
But you would think that someone like Steven Spielberg, at least, has more than earned his spurs as a filmmaker. That’s why the CoD community is absolutely stunned by the news that Activision has apparently decided to go in a different direction.
In the niko_starkiller puts it quite succinctly:
Imagine turning down the guy who made Saving Private Ryan and going to the studio responsible for the Halo series instead.
Because a CoD movie is actually going to happen without Steven Spielberg, Activision has entered into a deal with Paramount. And that deal also includes the publisher having a say in the creative decisions for the shooter adaptation. However, there are no details about the project at this time.
Incidentally, Steven Spielberg is not only a video game fan, he has even been actively involved in a few of them. The prime example: the shooter series Medal of Honor was created based on Spielberg’s personal input, which originally aimed to be historically accurate and take a more realistic approach. The Hollywood legend even co-produced the first three Medal of Honor games, which are considered the precursors to Call of Duty. Activision ultimately poached some of the core developers to form Infinity Ward, which went on to develop the first Call of Duty game.
