Report: Activision wants its own movie studio to turn Call of Duty and Skylanders into films

Activision’s unusual relationship with Hollywood took another turn this week, with reports that the publisher is looking to open its own TV and movie studio.

According to The Information, Activision is tentatively looking into such a move. The firm has a hot and cold relationship with the movie industry, although it happily produces games based on the likes of Transformers and Spider-Man, it has thus far avoided turning its hit IP – such as Call of Duty and Skylanders – into movies.

And CEO Bobby Kotick has been wary of the bad films souring his brands,

In fact, when it comes to Skylanders, the business has repeatedly stated that it believes the game IS the movie. Although I for one feel that not taking Skylanders onto TV or cinema is giving an easy win to Disney Infinity.

Activision would not be the first publisher to open its own movie factory, with Ubisoft doing exactly the same thing.

If this turns out to be true, it’s will be the second example of Activision softening its business approach. At Gamescom it announced it would be publishing niche indie games. A far cry from the assertion that Activision is only interested in creating games that could become ‘billion dollar franchises’.