News broke recently that Steven Spielberg wanted to make a Call of Duty movie. However, Activision decided to not go with one of the most revered and greatest film directors ever, they sold the rights to Paramount instead. Why? According to reports, Steven wanted final cut and Activision didn’t like that, so turned his pitch down.

This story had led me to ask a pretty pertinent question, are Activision stupid? This is Steven Spielberg we’re talking about here. If you are of a similar age to me (very late-40s), then I can guarantee that if you think back to films that shaped your childhood, several of them would have been from Steven. Whether he wrote, directed (usually both) or produced them, several of your favourite films growing up came from Steven Spielberg.

Jaws, the movie that created the summer blockbuster. Poltergeist, one of the most influential horror films ever. Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Indiana Jones flicks, modern B-movie classics. Back to the Future, one of the most perfect trilogies ever made. Jurassic Park, one of the finest family films ever made. The list goes on… The Goonies, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook, and more. If you were a kid in the ’70s and ’80s, if your teenage years were the ’90s, then you definitely watched Steven Spielberg movies, lots of them.

Outside of the films, there was TV. Columbo, Tiny Toon Adventures, SeaQuest DSV, Animaniacs, Admit it, you still watched Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs when you were several years outside the intended age group. Why? Because they were amazing shows that appealed to kids and adults. Even when you did became an adult and started to watch “grown up” flicks and shows, Steven was most probably behind them. The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Schindler’s List, Amistad, Munich, Lincoln. Steven Spielberg is one of the few writers/directors/producers that can turn his hand to anything. Action, comedy, family entertainment, hard-hitting drama, sci-fi, animation… anything.

There are two projects that I have purposely left out, until now. The TV show, Band of Brothers and the highly regarded flick, Saving Private Ryan. Let’s be honest, these two projects are Call of Duty and they perfectly show that Steven Spielberg is the right man to take on a Call of Duty film. The short version is that Steven is one of the most creative and celebrated filmmakers/storytellers ever. He’s also an avid gamer and has been responsible for several videogames himself. The very infamous E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial on the Atari was Steven’s idea. The Dig, one of those classic LucasArts point ‘n click adventures (it was okay). Steven Spielberg’s Director’s Chair, an interactive moviemaking sim that featured early appearances of Jennifer Aniston and some other fella called Quentin Tarantino. Oh, and Steven also “kind of” created the Call of Duty franchise.

Allow me to explain. You see, Steven Spielberg directed (and won the Oscar for) Saving Private Ryan. Often regarded as one of the most highly respected war films ever. The famed Omaha Beach opening is seen as the most brutally honest and horrific depictions of war caught on film.

Anyway, it was while making this film that Steven Spielberg decided that he wanted to bring that level of storytelling and honesty about WW II to videogames, and he came up with the concept for first Medal of Honor game, released in 1999. Working closely with a dev team, Steven wrote the story and helped the game take shape. Steven also worked on the first two sequels, Medal of Honor: Underground and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, before selling the rights to EA (funnily enough, the quality of the games began to drop around then too). That initial Medal of Honor trilogy was massive. The first title was released at a time when the FPS genre was still evolving and doing something like a WW II setting was seen as being outdated.

It was a risk, but the risk paid off and suddenly, more realistic and honest FPS titles began to become a trend. Enter Activision, who wanted a slice of that pie when they released the first Call of Duty in 2003. Even some of the devs who had worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault worked on that first Call of Duty title. In fact, during its development, Call of Duty was known as “Medal of Honor Killer“. As the quality of the Medal of Honor titles diminished (thanks EA), the quality of Call of Duty increased. Eventually, Call of Duty became the militaristic FPS franchise, and Medal of Honor fell off the radar.

But, you do have to wonder if Call of Duty would even exist if not for Steven Spielberg wanting to make Medal of Honor to begin with. I doubt that it would. Steven took a big chance on an outdated FPS concept and Activision jumped on the bandwagon after it proved to be so popular. In a way, Steven kickstarted Call of Duty. So, taking everything into consideration, Steven’s vast experience and knowledge in filmmaking, his love for videogames, his gargantuan fan-base and instant cinema pull, Activision not letting him make a Call of Duty flick is beyond stupid, right?

If I could paraphrase Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters for a second…
Activision, when the multi-Oscar winning writer/director/producer and videogame fan Steven Spielberg asks you if he can make a film out of your videogame IP (that he kind of helped create in the first place), you say “YES”!

I have no idea what Activision are thinking here. My only guess is that they don’t want a possible Oscar winning and gritty Call of Duty movie in the same vein as Saving Private Ryan. I reckon they’re thinking more along the lines of the joke that the Call of Duty IP has become now. Maybe they’re eyeing up Mike Judge to write and direct?

With Activision selling the rights to Paramount, they could do something really fucking funny. Paramount and Steven Spielberg have a very strong relationship and the famed director has made several huge films for the studio (like Indiana Jones). It would be hilarious if Paramount hired Steven to make his Call of Duty film after all…