Activision Announces ‘Activision-Blizzard Studios’ & Call Of Duty Film Series

Blizzcon is popping off right now, and the first HUGE announcement out of the convention is a doozy. Not content being the forerunner for console gaming, PC gaming and now Mobile gaming, they want to move into the production of film and TV!

Activision-Blizzard Studios is going to focus on bringing the company’s countless award winning franchises to life. Ex Disney executive Nick van Dyke has been announced as the co head of the new division, along side a yet unnamed executive.

The studios first property is going to be a TV series based off the popular toys to life franchise, Skylanders. Skylanders Academy has an incredible cast attached. Justin Long, Ashley Tisdale, Jonathan Banks, Norm Macdonald, Harland Williams and Richard Horvitz.

They also have announced a Call of Duty film series, but no information past that has been released.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was quoted as saying:

Activision Blizzard is home to some of the most successful entertainment franchises in history, across any medium. With the launch of Activision Blizzard Studios, our engaged fans can now watch the games they love come to life across film and television. Activision Blizzard Studios is yet another way we’re celebrating our players and fans, and we expect that our film and television productions will entertain and delight whole new audiences, as well. I’m excited that Nick and his team will be leading this important new growth opportunity for Activision Blizzard.

EX Disney executive Nick van Dyke, whom was heavily involved with the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, was quoted as saying:

Activision Blizzard Studios has the unique advantage of starting with a library of world-class intellectual property that includes some of the largest franchises which have not yet been developed in film and television. Our library spans more than 30 years of global entertainment culture and, in the last 12 months alone, fans of Activision Blizzard properties have played and watched our games online for more than 13 billion hours. This gives us a huge, passionate and deeply-engaged audience that is hungry for more great content built from the universes they already know and love-and which are extremely broad in their appeal.

 

Activision Blizzard Studios is not just an exciting new business for our company, it is a synergistic complement to our core business. Our movies and shows will benefit from the remarkable IP created in our games and will further increase the awareness of, engagement with and passion for our franchises.

This isn’t the first time a video game studio has branched into film. Most recently Ubisoft created Ubisoft Motion Pictures and has brought their Rabbids character to TV and are currently producing the Assassin’s Creed Movie starring Michael Fassbender.

This news is potentially something that will make Activision Blizzard and unstoppable juggernaut. With the Blizzard IP’s ALONE garnering an incredible amount of praise and desire from fans for film adaptations. Who WOULDN’T want to see a Diablo or Starcraft movie?