Activision Blizzard wants to make a cinematic universe for Call of Duty that resembles Marvel’s universe 

In a new interview with The Guardian, Activision Blizzard Studio Co-Presidents discussed their initial plans and vision for how they want to develop the Call of Duty cinematic universe, and try to resemble the inter-connected universe that Marvel has created.

Back in 2015, Activision Blizzard announced a new division, Activision Blizzard Studios, which would create TV shows and movies based off of Activision Blizzard’s owned IPs. In their original announcement in 2015, Activision Blizzard stated that they are working on a Call of Duty movie, which was slated for a 2018/2019 release.

From the November 2015 announcement:

Speaking with The Guardian recently, both Stacey Sher and Nick van Dyk, co-presidents of Activision Blizzard Studio, have been tasked with creating this cinematic universe for Call of Duty. They have stated that work on multiple different scripts for a Call of Duty movie is already in the works, including working on extensive research with military and soldiers on how they story should be.

Stacey Sher previously worked in high value production roles on Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and more.

“We have plotted out many years,” Sher said to Guardian. “We put together this group of writers to talk about where we were going. There’ll be a film that feels more like Black Ops, the story behind the story. The Modern Warfare series looks at what it’s like to fight a war with the eyes of the world on you. And then maybe something that is more of a hybrid, where you are looking at private, covert operations, while a public operation is going on.”

Nick van Dyk, co-president, previously worked as a senior executive at Disney. At Disney, he played a big role in working to acquire Marvel and Star Wars brand into the Disney family. Now, working as the co-president of Activision Blizzard Studios, he plans to use some of what Marvel does in creating an interconnected universe for Call of Duty.

“It’s going to have the same sort of high-adrenaline, high-energy aesthetic as the game, but it’s not a literal adaptation. It’s a much more broad and inclusive, global in scope … a big, tentpole Marvel-esque movie.” Dyk stated. “These individual universes that interconnect and a timeline that makes sense with consistent themes and Easter eggs”.

Activision Blizzard Studios is also interested and working on creating Call of Duty TV series that focuses on World War II and the Vietnam war. The Guardian reports that their focus in this TV-show series is to try and interconnect worlds how Marvel does with their Netflix based TV shows.

“We have a very rich library,” says Van Dyk. “I would say our first order of business is existing current franchises, but there an incredible opportunity to have these hundreds of games that have huge huge followings and tremendous nostalgia. If you look at Marvel, they started working when you had Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, and real film-makers on board as well. What I think made The Avengers so great was the writing and directing. You cared about those characters. If you just chase the empty blockbuster, and have nothing to say in the genre, forget about it.”

Thus far, Activision Blizzard Studios has released one TV show on Netflix based upon Skylanders, Skylanders Academy. The TV has reportedly been a hit, with Netflix already ordering a third season to debut in 2018.

SOURCE: The Guardian (feature image also via Guardian)