Paramount Finally Has Its Top Gun Replacement

Paramount no longer has to worry about what’s next after Top Gun, because a suitable replacement is now in the works. Although the Tom Cruise-led military movie franchise spans just two installments, Top Gun has become a household name in the action genre. 1986’s Top Gun started it all by introducing Cruise’s U.S. Navy aviator Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who enters an elite training program and takes on high-stakes missions in the air. Director Tony Scott’s Top Gun finished as the highest-grossing movie of the year both domestically and globally. A sequel was announced in 2010, but it took until 2022 for Top Gun: Maverick to open in theaters. With Cruise reprising his role, Joseph Kosinski’s film brought in a fresh supporting cast and loads of riveting aerial combat. Like its predecessor, Top Gun: Maverick topped the yearly box office and won the hearts of audiences. As a result, it would seem a major challenge to replace the Top Gun movies, but Paramount has secured a worthy successor.

According to a recent report from Variety, a Call of Duty movie is in development at Paramount, who inked a deal with Activision to develop, produce, and distribute a live-action installment of the mega-popular video game franchise. In a statement (per Deadline), Paramount CEO David Ellison shared that the studio is “approaching this film with the same disciplined, uncompromising commitment to excellence that guided our work on Top Gun: Maverick,” which should delight fans of both intellectual properties. Although further details concerning Paramount’s Call of Duty film have been kept under wraps, the studio’s upcoming project has the potential to live up to Top Gun‘s success.

Why Paramount’s Call of Duty Movie Will Be a Great Successor to Top Gun

With a few exceptions, video game movies haven’t done too well. Highly-anticipated adaptations like 2016’s Assassin’s Creed, 2021’s Mortal Kombat, and 2022’s Uncharted failed to impress the masses, and a widely loved Tomb Raider film is still yet to materialize after three tries. One might temper expectations ahead of a Call of Duty movie due to this trend, but there are still reasons to believe Paramount’s project will triumph. The studio’s Top Gun-influenced approach to Call of Duty is a smart strategy given the franchises’ similar military theme. Having released over 20 main installments since 2003, Call of Duty has a lot of material for Paramount to potentially base its movie on. Legacy characters such as John “Soap” MacTavish and John Price from the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games or Frank Woods and Alex Mason from the Call of Duty: Black Ops series could serve as a compelling jumping-off point for an original story either based on existing plots and characters or entirely new.

The Call of Duty games feature settings and locations from World War II to the Cold War to hundreds of years in the future, so it will be interesting to see in which time period Paramount’s movie will take place. Call of Duty additionally boasts some of the most exhilarating action of any first-person shooter franchise, and the Top Gun movies aren’t too different from its style. Whether in campaign mode or the games’ variety of multiplayer modes, Call of Duty‘s gameplay is sharp and immersive, providing plenty of inspiration for a live-action film. Top Gun: Maverick brings viewers close to the action and uses thundering sound effects to render its flight scenes as realistic as possible. Applying this formula to the Call of Duty movie would work wonders for the project.

Read Next

Tom Cruise Proves He Could Make an Amazing Uncharted Movie

Unlike Top Gun, Paramount’s Call of Duty movie doesn’t face the burden of building a following from scratch. Call of Duty ranks high among the most popular IPs in gaming history, therefore a movie can generate hype from its enormous existing fanbase. Even so, the quality of Paramount’s Call of Duty project is of the utmost importance, as fan excitement won’t automatically translate to an outstanding finished product. Using Top Gun: Maverick as a reference point for the Call of Duty film indicates a promising foundation for Paramount, and if the project succeeds, it could spark a cinematic universe on the level of Top Gun.

What’s Next for Top Gun & Why Call of Duty Is Coming at the Right Time

Nearly two years after Top Gun: Maverick thrilled moviegoers, Top Gun 3 was confirmed to be in the works with Cruise, Kosinski, and more set to return. It remains to be seen whether the third film can recapture the magic of Top Gun: Maverick, but even if it triumphs, the franchise can’t go on forever. Cruise having completed his decades-long run in Mission: Impossible bodes well for his other endeavors. Top Gun‘s future largely depends on Cruise’s desire to keep making installments, thus when he decides to step away from the franchise, a new military-focused universe will need to take its place at Paramount.

The release dates of Top Gun 3 and the Call of Duty movie are currently unknown, but it still looks like Paramount has a plan for the years to come. Instead of waiting for Top Gun to run out of steam, Call of Duty can bolster Paramount’s action movie sector and revitalize it for the future — regardless of how many more Top Gun films are in store. Call of Duty is still pumping out games, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 slated to release in 2025. Call of Duty‘s upcoming adaptation to the big screen could improve its legacy and cement the franchise as the perfect successor to Top Gun.

What are your thoughts about Paramount’s upcoming Call of Duty movie? Let us know in the comments!