5 Directors Who Should Direct the Call of Duty Movie (Including Zack Snyder)

It’s official, a Call of Duty movie is in the works and will likely be one of the biggest brands under Paramount’s belt. The Call of Duty franchise is one of the biggest gaming IPs out there thanks to the fact publisher Activision releases a brand new action-packed game every single year. Later this year, Activision will release Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the 23rd mainline game in the franchise. It’s an unstoppable force and one that is likely only going to grow with this new cinematic adaptation. Paramount plans to make not only Call of Duty films, but also potentially a TV series as well for its streaming platform, highlighting the studio’s ambitions.

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Details are scarce on what exactly Paramount will do with Call of Duty beyond films and TV. Will they directly adapt the games? Will they tell new stories? It’s hard to say, especially when Call of Duty has spanned many different eras of warfare with countless characters. However, there’s a very specific tone that needs to be struck with Call of Duty so it’s set apart from any other war films out there. So, I’ve decided to run down a list of who the best directors might be to helm the Call of Duty movie. While guys like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve would be cool, let’s be honest, they are extremely busy and probably aren’t going to tackle something like this regardless, so consider them excluded from this particular list.

5) Ray Mendoza

Ray Mendoza probably isn’t a name you’re going to recognize, but if you’re a Call of Duty fan, you’ve already seen his work. Mendoza is a former Navy SEAL turned film producer/director/advisor. He recently co-directed and co-wrote Warfare with Alex Garland based on his own personal memory of a warzone he was stuck in roughly 20 years ago. While a bit controversial, it was an extremely effective and harrowing war film praised for its authenticity. It was the kind of movie that could only be made by a veteran. He also has served as an advisor on a number of great tactical films and shows such as Lone Survivor, The Terminal List, and Garland’s Civil War.

Mendoza has also worked directly on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) doing motion capture work for the acclaimed shooter. He already has a knowledge for how to make Call of Duty because he’s been part of the production of one. If that doesn’t make him a great candidate in addition to his work on Warfare, I don’t know what else does.

4) Sam Hargrave

Sam Hargrave is the director of the Extraction series, arguably some of the best original action films of the decade. While the stories themselves aren’t exactly anything to write home about, they’re exceptionally directed as Hargrave comes from a stunt background. Not too dissimilar from directors like Chad Stahelski or David Leitch, Hargrave got his start as a stunt coordinate and second unit director on massive films like Avengers: Endgame and Deadpool 2 which helped him develop his skills as an action director.

Hargrave knows how to shoot thrilling action sequences that feel grounded and tactical while still being cinematic. Not only that, but he’s directing a Matchbox movie which will be produced by Paramount’s new CEO David Ellison who is on record for being a big Call of Duty fan. He’s a big reason why any of this is happening so if Ellison is impressed with Hargrave’s work on Matchbox, it could land him a job directing Call of Duty.

3) Joseph Kosinski

Joseph Kosinski is currently on a pretty awesome run with Top Gun: Maverick and F1 both being massive box office successes. Kosinski has shown he’s an extremely capable technical director that fuses character with spectacle. Big action set pieces work at their best when you care about the characters within them and Kosinski has shown he’s very capable of that. Having worked on Paramount’s second highest grossing movie, he’s likely in great standing with them and would be a solid pick for the job. The studio even cited the quality of Top Gun: Maverick as the standard for what they want to achieve with Call of Duty.

Kosinski also has a track record of successfully bringing video games to life, albeit on a smaller scale. He directed the iconic Mad World commercial for Gears of War, the Starry Night ad for Halo 3, and a variety of other high-quality CG and live-action video game ads.

2) Zack Snyder

I know, Zack Snyder is a divisive name. However, his overall aesthetic is perfect for a movie like Call of Duty. Loud, a bit brash, and bombastic go hand in hand with Call of Duty and Snyder. Fans and detractors alike have also compared Snyder’s style to being visually similar to a video game as well.

In 2011, he told IGN that he was a big fan of shooters and specifically cited his love for Call of Duty: Black Ops before discussing whether the franchise’s multiplayer mode would eventually cannibalize the campaign. Snyder also had a deal with EA in the mid-2000s to help produce some video games, but nothing ever came from it. Zack Snyder has even expressed interest in directing Gears of War and Halo, so he clearly knows the space.

If Call of Duty opts to do a Zombies movie or TV series, Snyder’s the perfect fit. The director helmed a successful remake of Dawn of the Dead and eventually did a spiritual successor known as Army of the Dead for Netflix. Both are tremendous zombie films that feature charming ensemble casts, a tongue-in-cheek tone, and excessive violence, which makes a perfect recipe for a Call of Duty Zombies film.

1) Michael Bay

Michael Bay is arguably the most obvious choice to direct Call of Duty. His name has been invoked many times when discussing the cinematic, blockbuster-y nature of the franchise’s campaigns, particularly with regards to the original Modern Warfare trilogy. It’s clear that he was a source of inspiration for the franchise as multiple missions across the series pull from movies like The Rock and 13 Hours.

Bay knows how to capture over the top action sequences with larger than life characters and loves to give the military their glory shots. Not only that, but he has a strong history with Paramount and is reportedly in talks to do a new Transformers movie with the studio. Although his Transformers movies were largely panned at the time of release, younger audiences embraced his extremely loud style and still fawn over the big action sequences from those films to this day.