In Hollywood’s never-ending attempt to mine every IP known to man there have been few major stones left unturned. However, the realm of video game films remains a profitless void for the industry. There have been several attempts to jump-start the genre but all of those have pretty much been non-starters. The most successful films in the genre to date were the Angelina Jolie ‘Tomb Raider‘ films, but those films were very much products of their time.
However, whispers had begun to swirl several years ago that ‘Call of Duty’ was next up on the list of to get the big screen treatment and today those rumors got a lot closer being validated. According to Justin Kroll at Variety, The film division at Activision has hired Stefano Sollima to direct the big screen adaptation of the property. While Sollima’s still building his reputation stateside, he’s been a major director in Italy for over three decades. Sollima is also helming the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2015 film ‘Sicario’ which will be entitled ‘Sicario 2: Soldado‘.
While the choice of director is undeniably solid, the fact that there is going to be a ‘Call of Duty’ film at all is truly a sign of the times. The games gross more every year than most major motion pictures. But yet the company isn’t satisfied with those earnings and feels the need to take up valuable theatre real estate with what will be undoubtedly a 2+ hour long commercial either for a new game or god forbid the next film in the franchise.
