With how popular recent Call of Duty games like COD: Modern Warfare and COD Mobile have been, it can be easy to forget that Activision has been trying to make a Call of Duty movie for the last few years. That might not be the case anymore, however, because word on the street is that the project has been put on hold, relegating it to Activision’s backburner indefinitely.

Fans who hadn’t forgotten about the movie may have figured by this point that something was amiss. Despite being originally targeted for a 2018-2019 release window, that period came and went without much in the way of solid updates. One of the more recent updates, from mid-2018, suggested that the project was still in its early days, with the movie's director, Stefano Sollima, claiming that Call of Duty would be a "real movie" that will avoid the stigma of most video game film adaptations.

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It’s actually Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) himself who made the claim about the movie being put on hold. During a recent interview with Italian film site Badtaste, he stated that the Call of Duty movie is no longer a priority for Activision and is now “in limbo.” Additionally, he revealed that Scott Silver, who wrote the screenplay for the critically-acclaimed film Joker, wrote a script for the movie.

Over four years have passed since the COD movie was revealed alongside the announcement of a new Activision film and TV division. Back then, the company made it clear that it was trying to establish a Marvel-style cinematic universe for Call of Duty, something many studios back in 2015 were trying to do with their own brands in light of how popular Marvel’s interconnected superhero movies had become. Now that the movie has been delayed and ultimately put on hold, that likely won’t be happening anytime soon.

call of duty logo classic

While Sollima didn’t specify the reasons for it, one can assume it’s ultimately a simple business move on Activision’s part. A movie like Call of Duty is designed first and foremost as a means to market a brand to a larger audience. That’s not a problem the COD franchise has, being as it has one of the largest audiences of any franchise in any medium and generated more money than even the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Chances are Activision just eventually decided that a big-budget movie, the type that would’ve easily cost over $100 million to produce, wasn’t necessary with how immensely successful the Call of Duty video games are. In all likelihood, the games will continue to make huge amounts of cash as they continue their annual release schedule, even though recent reports have claimed that Activision doesn’t have high expectations for 2020’s Call of Duty.

Call of Duty is reportedly on hold at Activision-Blizzard Studios.

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Source: Badtaste