Call of Duty writer Taylor Sheridan is a ‘good match’ for video game movie, Xbox boss says

Microsoft’s president of game content and studios Matt Booty has promised Taylor Sheridan is a “good match” for the Call of Duty movie.

The Yellowstone creator, 55, is to helm a film adaptation of the iconic video game shooter franchise, and although Booty hasn’t revealed any plot details for the Call of Duty flick yet, the Xbox boss has promised Sheridan will do the movie justice.

Speaking with Variety, he said of Sheridan: “If you think about the way that he tells stories, you think about the other things that he’s been a writer on, I think that the team feels that he’s got a good approach to characters and a good approach to story that’ll match up with their vision of what a Call of Duty movie [is].

“I mean, it’s an interesting thing. It’s a little bit like Fallout, right? We sit here and Fallout Season 2 is coming up. Where do you start with making something about Fallout?

“Lucky are we that we are shepherds of such a broad canvas of characters and stories, but where do you start? 


“Call of Duty, there’s two decades of Call of Duty — where do you start? Which character do you pick from which branch of the franchise?

“And so the team has got a vision where they want to go, and I think Taylor Sheridan will be a good match for what they’ve got in mind.”

Booty also explained how the project - which will be produced by Paramount Pictures’ David Ellison - came to be.

He said: “A relationship came about between the folks at Paramount and the senior people on the Call of Duty’ team, where they felt like they found a partner who understands the game, people who play the game, and shared a vision of what it could be to bring that forward.

“And that’s how these things come about for us. They aren’t negotiated at a detached, kind of abstract level - and then we find out. These things start with the game team.”

As well as the Call of Duty movie, Microsoft is also working on a sequel to A Minecraft Movie with Warner Bros., and a Gears of War live-action film with Netflix.

Reflecting on the move from the monitor to the big screen, Booty said “games have really become a foundational part of entertainment”.

Sheridan is to co-write the Call of Duty movie with Lone Survivor’s Peter Berg, who will also be directing the film.

When the Call of Duty movie was first announced, Deadline said that “the pic will be designed to thrill its massive global fan base by delivering on the hallmarks of what players love about the games,” all “while expanding the franchise to entirely new audiences”.

Currently, further details, like the release date, story and cast, are being kept under wraps.