Taylor Sheridan’s Call of Duty film targets Modern Warfare
In a new announcement, Taylor Sheridan finally addressed the Call of Duty movie’s setting—framing the choice around what longtime players most wanted.
If you've ever thought, 'When are they finally turning Call of Duty into a film?', you're about to get your answer—plus, they’re actually listening to what fans want for once. This isn’t the endless rumour mill; the Call of Duty movie is very real, it’s on the way, and Paramount and Activision have just confirmed where the action’s happening. Hint: it’s not World War II for the hundredth time.
Modern Warfare: Not Exactly a Shocker
So, here’s the main news: the upcoming Call of Duty film will be rooted in the Modern Warfare storyline. Honestly, this is about as surprising as rain at Glastonbury—it’s been the most popular bit of the franchise for years, and if you’re trying to sell tickets to more than just diehards, you’d pick this era too.
The announcement came straight from director and co-writer Peter Berg at the Call of Duty in Culture Panel during Fanatics Fest in New York. You might know Berg for directing Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor, and Deepwater Horizon—so he does have a thing for gnarly blokes running around with guns.
Sheridan, Berg, and Glasser Running Point
Here's who is actually wrangling this thing together:
- Peter Berg: Director and co-writer—mostly does action drama with soldiers, not exactly new territory for him.
- Taylor Sheridan: Co-writer. If you’ve ever watched Yellowstone or Landman, you’ll have a fair idea of his style—lots of brooding, stoic types and terse conversations before things inevitably go sideways.
- David Glasser (101 Studios): Producing, along with Sheridan and Berg. If Paramount wants this to go big, Glasser’s been around the block in Hollywood.
Premiere Date Set—Get Your Calendar Out Now
The film’s already got a proper release date—30 June, 2028. Not just plucked out of thin air either; that’ll be the franchise’s 25th anniversary. For context, Call of Duty first hit PC screens in 2003 and, since then, has sold over half a billion copies. That’s pretty much every man and his nan having given it a go.
What’s Modern Warfare Actually Mean Here?
If you’ve not kept up with every new entry, Modern Warfare is the contemporary arm of the series—the one with all the night vision goggles, drone strikes, and nervy global politics. The most recent chapter, Modern Warfare 4, lands 23 October this year, with a plot featuring North and South Korea squaring off (because apparently we don’t have enough tension in 2026 already).
No official word yet on whether the film will cherry-pick from one of these games specifically, or cook up a new story in the same world. But the aim, according to everyone involved, is to actually make it feel 'real'—not just a load of blokes in camo shouting jargon at one another.
Authenticity or Just Another ‘Game’ Movie?
Rob Kostich, Activision’s boss, piped up about this at CinemaCon back in April. He put it like this:
'I told everyone we were only going to make a movie if it’s right. In David Ellison, we found that partnership… the authenticity of it is captured on a human level so that it feels really real and infuse that with epic scope.'
So, yes, the usual corporate patter, but the emphasis is all on 'authenticity' and big cinematic moments, which, after the last few cursed game-to-movie translations, is vaguely comforting.
Translating Video Game Giants for the Big Screen
Given Call of Duty is one of the best-selling games ever, Paramount and Activision clearly expect a Marvel-sized audience for their military blockbuster. There’s a lot riding on this—from proving that game adaptations don’t have to be dreadful, to marking a nice, round 25 years since the franchise first landed.