MOVIE NEWS – Steven Spielberg was seriously interested in directing a Call of Duty film. Three demands ultimately scared Activision off. The Jurassic Park filmmaker is a huge fan of the shooter franchise and had even offered to take on the project—provided the company agreed to buy into the full “package.”

This week it became official that Paramount Pictures is partnering with Activision to bring Call of Duty to the big screen. No director or writer has been announced yet, though on the pages of 3DJuegos we speculated on some names who might be a good fit. But never did I imagine Steven Spielberg would be in the running. I was wrong—though not as wrong as Activision, which rejected the American director.

According to Puck News (via Twisted Voxel), a site with reliable insider knowledge of Hollywood negotiations, there was a very real chance the legendary filmmaker would sit behind the camera—or at least oversee—a Call of Duty film. It sounds wild, but Spielberg’s love of video games is no secret (even if his ventures into them haven’t always gone smoothly). In fact, his son has admitted that he’s a bona fide gamer who especially loves Call of Duty.

“He loves video games, he’s the one who got me into them. He’s a big PC gamer, and that’s one of the things we bond over. He’ll say, ‘So, which new Call of Duty should I try? Send me a list of the five best shooters. I’ll download them and we’ll play when you come over.’ It always ends up being Call of Duty. He really enjoys the campaign.”

Why Spielberg and Activision Didn’t Reach a Deal

Reportedly, again via Puck News, Spielberg and his team at Amblin Production, working with Universal Pictures, presented Activision with what insiders call the “Spielberg Deal.” This would have guaranteed the Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones mastermind sweeping creative control: top-level financing, authority over the final cut, and oversight of the entire production and marketing campaign. Unsurprisingly, this level of power was too much for Activision, now a Microsoft subsidiary.

So instead, Paramount Pictures will move forward with the project, with its CEO personally backing the effort. Like Spielberg, he’s also an avid Call of Duty player. Still, learning that the man who invented the modern blockbuster nearly helmed the adaptation is bittersweet news. Paramount may yet secure another big-name director who could even outshine Spielberg.

But for now, fans will have to be patient: no director, no writer, and no release date have been confirmed. The film is sure to be a long time coming—without Spielberg’s hand guiding the process. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll set aside his passion for Call of Duty and bring Battlefield 6 to theaters instead? Meanwhile, Activision plans to release the highly anticipated Black Ops 7 later this year.

Source: PC Gamer