Call of Duty Film Alert: Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan Pens Script, Peter Berg Directs

UPDATE: The partnership between Activision and Paramount Pictures has been solidified with the announcement that Taylor Sheridan is set to write and produce the Call of Duty movie alongside Peter Berg, who will also serve as writer, director, and producer. Additionally, David Glasser has been confirmed as a producer on the project.

Below is our original report on this development.

Taylor Sheridan, known for creating Yellowstone, is currently negotiating to write the screenplay for Paramount’s upcoming live-action Call of Duty film, while Peter Berg, known for Lone Survivor, is close to finalizing his deal to direct it.

This information was reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Sheridan has recently been in the news after he left Paramount+—where he produced successful series such as Yellowstone and its spinoffs, Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness, Landman, and Lawman: Bass Reeves—to sign a lucrative billion-dollar contract with NBCUniversal.

(Under its new ownership by Skydance, Paramount reportedly did not attempt to make an offer to retain Sheridan.)

Paramount Pictures and Activision disclosed in September that they were collaborating on a live-action Call of Duty movie.

It remains to be seen which era the movie will portray, as the Call of Duty series, which started in 2003, spans from World War II to modern times and into the future. The upcoming release, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, is scheduled for November.

Activision has been considering a Call of Duty film adaptation since 2009, when they registered a trademark for the movie. In 2013, Activision’s then-CEO Bobby Kotick was skeptical about turning Call of Duty into a movie, arguing that “films based on video games rarely satisfy the fans and could damage the brand.”

However, by 2016, Activision Blizzard Studios was launched, with co-presidents Stacey Sher and Nick van Dyk at the helm, who announced their vision for a Marvel-style Call of Duty cinematic universe in 2017.

In 2018, Stefano Sollima, director of Sicario 2: Soldado, was linked to directing a Call of Duty film, with a sequel in the planning stages and Black Panther’s Joe Robert Cole on board to write. However, these plans never came to fruition.

For additional Call of Duty content, explore the last major gaming rivalry between Call of Duty and Battlefield and discover how to play the Call of Duty games in chronological order.