Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

‘Sicario 2’ director reportedly close to signing on for Call of Duty movie

By
SICARIO 2: SOLDADO - Official Teaser Trailer (HD)

Call of Duty will be Activision Blizzard’s next major game franchise to make the jump to the big screen — its last attempt, Warcaft, released in 2016 — and the action film looks like it’s close to having a director. Sicario 2: Soldado director Stefano Sollima is reportedly in talks with Activision Blizzard Studios to lead the project.

Recommended Videos

According to Variety, Sollima is currently in negotiations to direct the Call of Duty film, which is being produced by Activision Blizzard Studios presidents Stacey Sher and Nick van Dyk alongside Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

The Sicario films are set in the present day and focus on the FBI’s ongoing battle with cartels smuggling drugs into the United States from Mexico. The first film was directed by Arrival and Blade Runner: 2049 director Denis Villeneuve, and it was more action oriented than his other projects. According to Stacey Sher, Activision Blizzard Studios plans to release several films that focus on different types of Call of Duty stories, including one similar to Black Ops and one that feels like Modern Warfare.

“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,” Sher added in an interview with The Guardian. This sounds similar to Sledgehammer’s 2014 game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a sequel to which was shelved in favor of last year’s Call of Duty: WWII.

The original Sicario‘s cast was led by Emily Blunt as an FBI agent brought in by a covert CIA team attempting to stop a deadly cartel. She was written out of the sequel, but it will see the return of both Benecio del Toro and Josh Brolin. The series’ ambiguous morality and questioning of the government’s role in protecting citizens made the first film much more interesting than a traditional action film, though its explosion-heavy moments were still expertly directed.

We’re hoping the final Call of Duty film will be more critically successful than Warcraft. It was directed by Duncan Jones, best known for the fantastic sci-fi film Moon, but received scathing reviews, including one from Digital Trends.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cross-platform?
Soldiers battle in an abandoned airport.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the latest addition to the award-winning franchise that most of us have been playing for well over a decade. Beyond the enhanced graphics, refined mechanics, and new gameplay features, one of the biggest draws to the COD world has always been online multiplayer. Not only does multiplayer return for MW3, but there’s more to love about the competitive space than ever before. 

But not everyone owns the same version of Call of Duty. Some of us are playing on our next-gen consoles, while others are rocking gaming PCs. So what does this mean when it comes time to join others online? Does MW3 support cross-platform gameplay? The answer is a bit more complex, but here’s all the facts.
Does Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 have cross-platform support?

Read more
The best video game movies of all time
Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu

For as long as video games have existed, film producers have adapted them for the big screen. The rationale behind these decisions is clear, as big-name video game properties have the potential to bring a lot of fans into the theater. But they have seen limited success over the years.

Some video game movie adaptations have managed to capture the spirit of their source material and deliver an exciting take on the franchise. Others, however, have treated the video games as a vague reference point, resulting in underwhelming films that disappointed the average moviegoer, as well as longtime players.

Read more
All upcoming video game movies: release dates, development details, and rumors
The cast of Borderlands.

Video game adaptations are on a hot streak. Films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 were massive box office hits, while series like The Last Of Us and Halo have made for stellar TV shows.

While there have been some great video game movies, some have failed to capture the true spirit of a game on film. Luckily, more effort and resources are being poured into new adaptations given the success of the projects mentioned above — we're starting to see more and more video game films in the works and the overall quality appears to have hit a massive spike in recent years. With so many great video game franchises, every gamer believes their favorite game should be the next one to get a film.

Read more