A sequel for the upcoming Call of Duty movie is already in the works, with Black Panther’s Joe Robert Cole writing the script. Activision Blizzard Studios is looking to move into the film industry, and sees their wildly successful Call of Duty video game franchise as the basis to do so.
The studio has long been developing the first live-action Call of Duty film, but it was only recently that progress actually started to be made. A script was written by Kieran Fitzgerald that the studio liked, and then began shopping the project to find the right director. They hired Stefano Sollima to direct the first Call of Duty movie before Sicario: Day of the Soldado even hit theaters. The sequel received mixed reviews and wound up earning less than the first installment, but it did show why Sollima could be a great fit for the war franchise. Even though the first movie is far from even hitting theaters, the studio is moving fast to try and make sure this is indeed a big screen franchise.
Variety reports that Activision Blizzard Studios has hired Joe Robert Cole to write the script for Call of Duty 2. Cole is fresh off co-writing Black Panther with Ryan Coogler, and has recently been hired to write Netflix’s Failsafe and Lionsgate’s Map of Bones. Despite the first film not even being in production yet, the studio is said to want a script ready as soon as that happens next year - which could signal a potential fast turn around on these movies.
Cole is an incredibly talented writer who has also done work on American Horror Story, as well as his indie directorial debut Amber Lake. He’s recently wrote and directed All Day and a Night for Netflix, which stars Jeffrey Wright and Ashton Sanders. He’ll now be brought in to help expand the movie franchise even further, despite the minimal confirmed details about the first installment.
It’s not yet known what era the first Call of Duty film plans to tackle, but Cole’s script is a sequel and not a spinoff or new take. There’s been no casting decisions made yet either, so Cole will solely be working off of what Fitzgerald and Sollima’s current plan for the first movie is. Given the constantly changing nature of films as they go through various stages though, there’s no guarantee that what Cole starts writing will be anywhere close to the finished product. Of course, the studio will need the first film to be a hit before they should really consider making a sequel. It appears they are already putting the sequel in their long-term plans, but only time will tell whether or not Call of Duty becomes a true big screen franchise or not.
MORE: Announced Video Game Movies We’re Still Waiting On
Source: Variety
