Just a couple of weeks ago, Activision Blizzard was one of the largest gaming companies in the world, then it took a major step towards becoming an even larger powerhouse in it's industry by adding King Digital to the mix so it could get a firm position in the mobile gaming market, and over this weekend, Activision has done something even bigger.

Behold, Activision Blizzard Stuidos, the first step by AB into the film and television world and they have already announced a movie series based on the Call of Duty franchise and a TV series for Skylanders which is set to air next year and star Justin Long and Ashley Tisdale.

We have seen in the past what happens when gaming meets movie, but can Activision turn things around? Well, if Activision themselves work on them instead of having other companies make the movies, then there's a chance that it could work out, but there's also the possibility that AB is just trying to do way too much.

What are your thoughts? Can movies and shows based on some of their games work out if done well? Would you watch them?

I know about Skylanders and while I don't care for them I know boys the age that my daughters are at absolutely love them and would watch a TV show about them no problem.


Not sure how you do Call of Duty movies though.... unless you ignore the first few that took place during WW2 and just focus on their newer stuff. It could work though. I've rethought my opinion on video games or comics becoming movies. They used to be okay or bad but now they are generally good movies with the occasional bad one. Since the Marvel Universe went into film I think the demand and quality have gone up and hopefully other franchises can build off of that success.

geeogree : From what I have seen for movies, especially with the game ones is that if the right to a movie is licened to some company that isn't the people who made the game/book, then it usually is bad since there's no direct relation, but when the people who have worked directly with the content, like when an author of a book works with the movie, then it's usually good because they know how they want things to look.

Like Harry Potter.

If one can call the Harry Potter movies any good. In my humble opinion they left out a lot and put in a lot that was not there, and if I am not mistaken, J.K. Rowling just had to put up with it thanks to the "genius" of Warner Brothers. I have never seen an honest to goodness even CLOSE reiteration of book to movie, or game to movie spinoff. I've seen successful ones, but not just the calibur of quality I'd prefer. Again, just stating my opinion. I definitely realize that no one can perfectly emulate from show or game to the big screen, but at least give it a full 100% effort to try, you know? Rather than almost or not at all. An old friend once said, "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

I think the Skylanders show has a lot of potential, as it's already toony, so the transition to an actual cartoon won't be much of a stretch. Also with it's plots they could easily make a kids show without compromising anything. I think it'll do fairly well.

Call of Duty on the other hand...no, I just don't think one can capture that in a good movie. Especially since most people see CoD as a multiplayer deathmatch rather than a complex story based game. As such I doubt they'll be able to capture the essence of the game well enough to make it work.


manicman66 : Based on that quote, your old friend was either one of the Duke boys or my brother.