Taylor Sheridan, Peter Berg Team on ‘Call of Duty’ Movie for Paramount

After landing the rights to turn one of the world’s biggest video games into an epic movie, Paramount has now landed two A-list filmmakers to develop it. Sources tell Deadline that Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg (The Rundown, Hancock, Friday Night Lights) have joined Paramount and Activision to develop and produce a Call of Duty movie, with Paramount distributing a live-action feature film.

via: Variety

The deal comes the week that news broke that Sheridan, one of the company’s biggest hitmakers, will move his overall pact to NBCUniversal in 2029. It appears that Paramount Skydance will keep him busy until then and the subject matter sounds right up Sheridan’s alley given his penchant for action-heavy thrillers and procedurals.

Sheridan is the creator of “Yellowstone,” which has spawned the successful spinoffs, “1883” and “1923.” He also created “Lioness,” “Landman,” “Tulsa King” and “Mayor of Kingstown.” On the film front, Sheridan earned an Oscar nomination for writing “Hell or High Water” and also penned “Wind River,” “Sicario” and its sequel, “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.”

Berg’s other credits include “Hancock,” “Lone Survivor,” “Patriots Day” and “Battleship.” Like Sheridan, he’s no stranger to orchestrating warfare on screen or dramatizing stories of heroism.

“Call of Duty” is backed by Microsoft-owned video game publisher Activision. It encompasses more than 30 mainline games released since the original “Call of Duty” debuted in 2003. When the deal to make a movie was announced in September, sources said that while the pact is focused on making one “Call of Duty” movie, the deal includes the potential for Paramount to expand the “Call of Duty” universe across film and TV.

Plot details for the “Call of Duty” film haven’t been revealed, but the wildly popular video game is a first-person shooter military series. Paramount has had success adapting games into movies, turning “Sonic the Hedgehog” into a major film and streaming franchise. Video games have also inspired such recent blockbusters as “Super Mario Bros.” and “A Minecraft Movie.”

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I think this is a perfect match to give us a Call of Duty movie. As a fan of both creators, Taylor has done quite a bit since carrying Paramount+ on his back. In addition to giving us hits such as Yellowstone, Tulsa King, 1883, 1923, Landman, Lioness and Mayor of Kingstown, he also wrote the scripts for Sicario and Wind River (which he also directed), two films I absolutely love. So I'm excited to see what Taylor and Peter will bring to the Call of Duty film.