Film veterans Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg are teaming up to adapt the blockbuster video-game series Call of Duty into a live-action feature film under the banner of Paramount Pictures and publisher Activision Blizzard. The longstanding collaborators will co-write and produce the project, with Berg slated to direct. This marks a notable shift for Sheridan, whose creative focus has centered on television and limited-feature work, and for Berg, noted for his high-intensity war dramas and action thrillers.
While plot details are being held under tight wraps, the sheer scale of the Call of Duty franchise offers them a rich palette: the video game series, which launched in 2003 as a World War II shooter and evolved through modern and speculative future warfare scenarios, has sold over 500 million units worldwide and remains one of gaming’s most dominant military-action brands. With Sheridan’s strength in grounded, character-driven storytelling and Berg’s flair for visceral visual drama, insiders expect the film to lean into the gritty realism of infantry combat while channeling the scope of global conflict that made the games a phenomenon.
In combining Sheridan’s narrative heft — seen in his work on shows such as Yellowstone and films such as Sicario — with Berg’s blockbuster war-movie credentials, the production is positioned as more than a video-game tie-in. Rather than simply translating the game’s “lead soldier blasts through enemy lines” conceit, there is speculation the script will explore the human cost of warfare, the moral complexity of covert operations, and the enduring ties between the soldier on the ground and the geo-political machines behind the mission. For fans of the game, the attraction will be the promise of recognizable iconic moments—be they urban assaults, helicopter insertions or modern-era amphibious raids. For cinema-goers familiar with Berg’s earlier work, the wager lies in treating the source material with enough seriousness to appeal beyond the gamer crowd.
The timing of this announcement is significant. Paramount and Activision’s decision to bring Sheridan and Berg aboard signals a clear intent to approach the adaptation with a serious creative investment, rather than the more perfunctory blockbuster spin-off. In a market swamped by legacy-film expansions, video-game adaptations have historically met with mixed success. By selecting filmmakers known for high-quality narrative and production value, the companies appear to be making a concerted push to raise the bar for the genre. Cast and release date have not yet been revealed, and neither have budgets or shooting locations, though speculation is rife that the film will feature international theaters of war, multiple nationalities of combatants, and perhaps a serialized franchise framework to follow.
All told, the Sheridan-Berg pairing brings optimism to fans and industry watchers alike: a video-game mega-franchise in the hands of filmmakers who know how to craft tension and character under fire. If the adaptation succeeds, it could redefine how interactive entertainment is translated to the big screen. If it falters, it will join a long list of ambitious screen adaptations of games that failed to fully land. Either way, the film’s development is now being watched closely—both as cinema and as a signal of how serious Hollywood has become about treating video-game IP with creative ambition.
