Paramount to produce film based on ‘Call of Duty’ game franchise

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Paramount Skydance Corp. has struck a deal with Microsoft Corp.’s Activision video-game unit to develop and produce a live-action film based on the Call of Duty franchise, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

“We’re approaching this film with the same disciplined, uncompromising commitment to excellence that guided our work on Top Gun: Maverick, ensuring it meets the exceptionally high standards this franchise and its fans deserve,” David Ellison, Paramount’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in the statement. Ellison said he was a lifelong fan of the franchise and spent “countless hours” playing the game.

Securing the rights to adapt the popular Call of Duty warfare games follows other landmark deals inked by Ellison in recent weeks since acquiring control of Paramount in August. Last month, Paramount signed a seven-year agreement valued at $7.7 billion to show Ultimate Fighting Championship matches on its flagship Paramount+ streaming service, and the company signed a deal with the Duffer brothers — who created Netflix Inc.’s Stranger Things series — to develop and produce theatrical films and TV shows.

Ellison said at a media event in Los Angeles last month that he plans to boost film and TV production, aiming for roughly 20 movie releases in cinemas annually.

He’s appointed Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein to run the fabled film studio and has said that a third installment in the Top Gun franchise and more pictures in the Star Trek universe are priorities.

Activision, then an independent company, launched a division in 2015 to pursue movies and TV shows, including one based on Call of Duty, but an adaptation was never made.