The wrestler turned actor - arguably always an actor - has been ramping up his theatrical output recently, possibly to avoid typecasting after his role in the Fast and Furious franchise became enshrined as his most iconic (not that The Scorpion King should be forgotten). Johnson spoke about his next project being a video game movie in an interview recently, though he stated that he cannot yet reveal which game franchise is being adapted. Luckily, we have leaks to help us answer that without waiting for announcements! Johnson has previously starred in DOOM and Rampage as far as video game adaptations work, but is no stranger to pop-culture property adaptations overall. Aside of his returning role in F&F, he’s starred in Jumanji, G.I. Joe, Jungle Cruise and more. Recent roles also include the Netflix film Red Notice alongside Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot. One of his more surprising past roles was providing the voice of Cliffjumper in Transformers: Prime. While Johnson’s gaming habits aren’t quite as well known as that of some other actors - looking at you, Cavill - it is known that the former wrestler has played Call of Duty in the past, and possibly does so actively. It also fits the bill of a franchise which would be promoted as (ugh) “badass”. Some sources have claimed recently that Johnson was in talks to get the Call of Duty franchise onto the big screen, and it’s reasonable to assume that those talks bore some fruit. While Call of Duty would hardly be Johnson’s first foray into video game adaptations, it would be more or less the actor’s first swing at a comparatively serious war movie - unless it’s Zombies, of course. Recent years have seen the stigma attached to video game adaptations lessen with more and more good content in the form of TV shows, animated and otherwise, even if things are still touch and go on the movie side of things. While we wouldn’t expect a CoD movie to be a torchbearer for the intersection of games and high cinema, there is always potential for success present. Considering that the latest news on this front, even as far as unofficial sources go, is that Johnson is “in talks”, we’ll probably have to wait a good long while until the Call of Duty movie actually materializes, if it does at all. This possibility comes at an interesting time for the franchise, with Microsoft stepping in to buy Activision-Blizzard.
