Big news recently broke about Activision (which is now owned by Microsoft) agreeing to partner with Paramount on a deal to bring Call of Duty to cinema screens, but a follow-up report has revealed some intriguing details about a deal that nearly occurred before.
According to Puck, Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Saving Private Ryan) and his team at Amblin Pictures pitched a Call of Duty movie to Activision just before the studio agreed to its deal with Paramount. Spielberg is reportedly a huge Call of Duty gamer and was very passionate about the project's potential. However, he wanted full control over the film's vision and how it would be marketed, something that reportedly "spooked" Activision's senior executives.
The publisher ended up partnering with Paramount, which reportedly countered Spielberg's proposal by agreeing to allow Activision to have some say in the project's direction.
Spielberg has a storied history with video game shooters, as he was one of the creatives behind the Medal of Honor video game series, which is something of a precursor to Call of Duty. Many of the programmers and creatives who worked on Medal of Honor went on to form Infinity Ward, the studio that made the first Call of Duty game.
For their part, Paramount seems excited to have secured the Call of Duty rights, with its CEO David Ellison recently issuing a press statement, "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.”
Still, to turn down the director of Saving Private Ryan seems like a bold move by Activision and something that could come back to haunt them if the collaboration with Paramount fails to produce anything of note. Gamers, if nothing else, have a long memory and will surely bring up this decision if the Call of Duty movie fails to meet expectations.