Activision files trademark for Call of Duty film adaptation

by Griffin McElroy on Oct 6th 2009 10:45AM

Perhaps the reason why video game-to-film adaptations have failed so ubiquitously is because none of them were of a truly epic scale. Perhaps what the ailing genre needs is a massive, Saving Private Ryan-esque cinematic endeavor -- which might just be coming in the form of a movie based on Activision's Call of Duty franchise, as hinted at by a recent trademark filing.

Adding fuel to the speculative fire is Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling (aka FourZeroTwo) who recently tweeted, "grabbing lunch with Xavier Gens, director of the Hitman film while in town. Talking game films." Sure, we would've rather had Bowling meet with Mr. Scorcese to talk Duty movies -- but in the grand scope of video game films, Hitman ranks high on the "not completely abysmal" end of the spectrum.

[Via Trademork]

Source

Tags: activision, call-of-duty, film, fourzerotwo, fps, movie, robert-bowling, trademark

Reader Comments (58)

What are you talking about, Hitman was fucking horrible.

agreed, that wasn't just bad for a game movie, it had to have been one of the shittiest movies ever

It was no "Ultraviolet" though. That IS the crappiest movie ever made.

@zoot.
I believe Urban legends 2 would like to have a chat.

Clearly none of you have seen the cinematic masterpiece that is "Pootie Tang".

NOW THAT IS A BAD MOVIE.

Gentlemen, please.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ballistic_ecks_vs_sever/

oh cmon pootie tang had its moments ("you know its hot out here too") and yea ima have to go with ecks vs sever there but ultra violet was real close

Dont do that Activision. I actually like the Call of Duty franchise. Do it will the Tony Hawk games or something.

It's hard to mess up a war movie but, it's been done before....

I fail to see how watching a skateboarding film featuring the laughably bland Mr. Hawk could be any better than (yet another) war film

He's not saying a Tony Hawk movie would be any better, he's just saying that if they're going to taint a franchise he'd rather them taint an already tainted one than taint a well respected one.

Also, taint.

Assassin's Creed is a movie I think could do well under the supervision of Quintin Tarentino, other then that, forget the rest.

COD is great as a game, we dont need another war movie ¬_¬

Guh Tarantino's assassin creed I can see it now. Altair stares down his target after a 10 minute conversation of ethics. The western music cuts in as they glare. The target blinks and looks away for a moment. You hear a rustle of robes. Altair stands behind his victim and walks off. The victim, unknowingly clutching his gut, looks down to see the stab wound. He raises his head, eyes roll back, and he falls over in a dead huff. All of this to some Sergio music.

@Shmil
And that sounds bad to you?

Well that one scene sounds cool I'll put it in the trailer. I love Tarantino but he needs to give his spaghetti western influences a rest evey now and then.

Well as much as I adore Peter Jackson, I want him and Steven nowhere near an AC film, it needs more noir, more story and depth behind it then a heap of wonderful special effects and original creatures.

Vcize got the point i was trying to get at.

Steven Spielberg should be placed under house arrest so he can't fuck anything else up.

They may just be securing the rights. I believe Bethesda did the same with Fallout.

If you make this movie make it off of Modern Warfare. I can't stand to see another WWII flick...

A movie about a war? Madness!!

Madness?

This is politics.

THIS IS SPAR... nevermind.

Madness? THIS IS ACTIVISION!

Money money money must be funny in Bob Koticks world

This is a film I can guarantee I will not be seeing.

If it's based on WWI count me in too...

Call of Duty trademark suicide FTL!

I'll always prefer video games that play like films over films that play like video games.

despite it's acclaim (and how much i personally like Modern Warfare), the Call of Duty series is as generic as they come, especially from a story aspect. about the only thing i can picture is a Call of Duty logo...preceeding a generic war movie. not that that's good or bad; just not much to hope for.

don't forget the obligatory love interest :/

And someone screaming "SOOOOOOOAAAAAAPP!"

"not completely abysmal"

Are you kidding me? I can sum up how shitty that movie was in one sentence.

Hitman Clone Sword Fight.

Hitman rawked ...and that's all i have to say on this topic, otherwise all you cod fanboys would be bitching at me.

when will studios realize that video game stories COULD work for movies, Halo and Uncharted could be 2 great reasons.

why they DON'T work is because of bad acting, bad scripts and bad directing.

Halo...into a movie? I'm thinking star trek for some reason.

As for uncharted, we already have Indiana Jone, National Treasure and tomb raider movies, why do we need another :/

Now they are just copying Halo and Gears of War.

I wonder if trolls are even capable of original thought

About as much as the people who respond to them. ;)

They've already made this movie a million times. Take any war movie and slap "Call of Duty" on the title, and you have a Call of Duty movie. That's why the franchise works: the stories are so malleable that they can fit into any war scenario where you have soldiers shooting at each other.

There are two reasons to make a Call of Duty movie: 1). To be able to slap the Call of Duty label on a war movie and make money off of that fact. 2). To retell a story from one of the games. In either case, I'm not interested.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Call of Duty games. I've played all of them, but I think a Call of Duty movie is a terrible idea.

I have have some suspicion that this project is already in the works. I know of a number of big time people in Hollywood who are working on a "Special Military Film" that has no real name, but looks a lot like CoD4.
Just saying.

just take an upcoming AAA war movie and pay them to change the title to Call of Duty. Done... unless they want to take one of the modern warfare storylines of course, which would be interesting.

No, it wouldn't.

Yet another reason to hate Activision and everything they stand for.

The Call Of Duty series and WW2 games in general are a bad enough exploitation of real war, let alone a movie based on a game that's based on a movie.

The thought of a series of Call Of Duty 'trademarked' films makes me feel sick.

"A Michael Bay Film"

Noooooooooooooo!

Actually strike that Bay makes the occasional fun film, just keep Boll the hell away from this one!

and i suppose they'll charge an extra $10 for a ticket....

Wow, really?

A movie based on a game based on a war.

I think we have more than enough WWII movies....and why would you have to license through Activision. Do they now own the rights to WWII?

If you want to make a movie about WWII or present day battles against terrorists, why would you want to pay a licensing fee to Activision....just f*cking make it. What a bunch of dumbasses.

With "Call Of Duty" tagged on the title, it'll make more money.

How can this be made into a movie? The Call of Duty games have never had a decent story. The games are all about the action.

So if the Call of Duty IP were made into a movie it would be an action movie about war with a crappy story...doesn't really sound like a good idea.

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Activision files trademark for Call of Duty film adaptation

Reader Comments (58)

Posted: Oct 6th 2009 10:51AM iHavePants said

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