{"id":117092,"date":"2025-09-04T01:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/117092\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T01:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:52:09","slug":"paramounts-call-of-duty-movie-your-next-hbo-sky-binge-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/117092\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount’s ‘Call Of Duty’ Movie, Your Next HBO\/Sky Binge, & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to B.H.\u2019s Screen Time<\/a>, where every week, we\u2019ll give you the cliff notes on what\u2019s happening in the entertainment industry. From various stages of development chatter and our take on the newest releases, to a fun throwback worth revisiting, think of it as an insider\u2019s digest meets movie club. <\/p>\n

Coming Soon<\/p>\n

Video game movies haven\u2019t historically fared well (commercially or critically). But in a post-HBO\u2019s The Last of Us slash Amazon Prime<\/a> Video\u2019s Fallout era \u2013 and the success of its Sonic the Hedgehog adaptations \u2013 Paramount has a potential Call of Duty movie in its crosshairs.<\/p>\n

Weeks after the studio\u2019s protracted merger with Skydance was finalised (and CBS lawsuit settlement<\/a>), as well as the inking of a US$1.5 billion contract extension for the South Park boys<\/a>, reports indicate Paramount\u2019s new chairman and CEO, David Ellison, is extremely to keep that chequebook out.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer two sources, Paramount is negotiating to acquire film rights,\u201d notes the ever-trusted Matthew Belloni of Puck renown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo talent is attached yet, and the first-person shooter IP seems pretty tough to adapt. But it\u2019s said to be a priority for Ellison and his studio chiefs, Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, and an indicator of the kind of youth-skewing game franchises he wants to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waning cultural relevance aside, a key obstacle will involve Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who seems fairly hesitant about the Hollywood beast of adapting IP (despite the recent success of his company\u2019s Minecraft Movie and the aforementioned Fallout via Bethesda).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe video game business is successful by itself. It doesn\u2019t need this outlet,\u201d Spencer told Variety<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to start with a partner who understands our team and the story of that IP, and then letting them work through the process. That\u2019s my only barrier: let\u2019s never turn this into something where it has to get done, every franchise has to have a game or a movie or a TV show, and it becomes more like licensing. It\u2019s got to be about the creative outlet that linear media offers for our franchises.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also doesn\u2019t help that Paramount+ pretty comprehensively botched a major Microsoft property in Halo across two universally panned seasons of lore-bastardising boredom. But who knows? Perhaps they\u2019ll write a number with enough zeroes, and get the green light for a shoot \u2019em up affair helmed by \u2013 oh, I don\u2019t know \u2013 Sicario screenwriter and Paramount streaming\u2019s golden goose, Taylor Sheridan<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Sheridan has also tangentially dabbled in video games with Amazon Prime Video\u2019s adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel, Without Remorse (which inspired the Rainbow Six franchise), directed by Sicario: Day of the Soldado filmmaker Stefano Sollima.<\/p>\n

Conversely, this whole undertaking could simply fall apart as it has in the past: before being welcomed into the Microsoft fold, Activision had announced that a Call of Duty cinematic universe was in development. That obviously went nowhere. And history does tend to repeat itself.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye out on B.H. for potential updates regarding Paramount\u2019s Call of Duty movie (casting, release date, story, trailer, news, etc.).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As far as unions go, the one between HBO and Sky has been fruitful: The Young Pope\/The New Pope, Chernobyl, and Catherine the Great, to name a few. Now, it\u2019ll have a chance to continue proving itself with the forthcoming legal thriller War. <\/p>\n

From the creator of Netflix sensation Lupin and Apple TV+\u2019s Hijack, George Kay, comes this new anthology series starring Dominic West (The Wire, The Crown, SAS: Rogue Heroes) and Sienna Miller (Layer Cake, American Sniper, Anatomy of a Scandal). <\/p>\n

The story follows tech mogul Morgan Henderson (West) and his estranged wife, international film star Carla Duval (Miller), as they navigate a scandalous divorce case \u201cset to shake up boardrooms, bedrooms, and courtrooms across London.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWar\u00a0follows two of London\u2019s most prestigious rival firms \u2013 Cathcarts and Taylor & Byrne \u2013 as they go head-to-head in the divorce case of the century. Each side is certain they\u2019ll win. But as the case spirals and loyalties fracture, reputations are on the line, and everyone\u2019s playing to win. This is just the beginning \u2013 season one\u2019s explosive case is the first in an anthology of headline-making legal battles.\u201d<\/p>\n

HBO Max<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, we\u2019re in. And so is HBO: War has already been greenlit for two seasons. <\/p>\n

The cast also features Phoebe Fox (HBO\u2019s Task) as Serena Byrne and James McArdle (HBO\u2019s Mare of Easttown) as Nicholas Taylor, partners in life and business at Taylor & Byrne; Nina Sosanya (Baby Reindeer) as \u201cHer Majesty\u201d Beatrice \u201cQueen Bea\u201d Ubosi, and Pip Torrens (HBO\u2019s Succession, The Crown) as St John Smallwood, their counterparts and fierce rivals at Cathcarts; plus Archie Reneaux (Alien: Romulus) as ambitious lawyer Jonathan \u201cJohnny\u201d Warren.<\/p>\n

War release date (Australia): TBA.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sky will also soon be releasing its quietly stacked Nuremberg starring Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant, John Slattery, and plenty more. <\/p>\n

The film, written and directed by James Vanderbilt, follows American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Malek), who is assigned to assess the mental fitness of high-ranking Nazi prisoners. His most challenging subject? Hermann G\u00f6ring (Crowe), Hitler\u2019s closest confidant, leading to a \u201ctense psychological battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nuremberg release date (international): November 14th, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And finally, Glen Powell steps into a role we daresay he was born for with the Hulu sports comedy Chad Powers.<\/p>\n

Taking the Ted Lasso route of turning mildly humorous short-form content into its own series, as some of you may have already gathered from the title, this is an adaptation of that undercover prank<\/a> involving two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning. Here\u2019s the story they\u2019re choosing to assign it:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen bad behaviour nukes hotshot quarterback Russ Holliday\u2019s (Powell) college career, he disguises himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional cast members range from Perry Mattfeld as Ricky, Quentin Plair as Coach Byrd, and Wynn Everett as Tricia Yeager, to Frankie A. Rodriguez as Danny, and Steve Zahn as Coach Jake Hudson.<\/p>\n

Chad Powers has been executive produced by a team that includes Eli Manning and his older brother\/fellow Super Bowl champion Payton Manning, Michael Waldron, as well as Glen Powell. Waldron and Powell also serve as co-creators.<\/p>\n

Chad Powers release date (Australia): October 1st via Disney+.<\/p>\n

Now Showing<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/p>\n

Crime\/Dark Comedy\n <\/p>\n

Actors:<\/p>\n

Austin Butler, Regina King, Zo\u00eb Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D\u2019Onofrio, Benito Mart\u00ednez Ocasio\n <\/p>\n

Directed by:<\/p>\n

Darren Aronofsky\n<\/p>\n

When his punk-rock neighbour asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, New York City bartender Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters who all want a piece of him.<\/p>\n

When the trailer first dropped<\/a> for this one, we called it the American answer to Guy Ritchie\u2019s Snatch. Having actually seen it now, we understand it\u2019s a shallow Ritchie impression from the Academy Award-nominated Darren Aronofsky at best. There\u2019s a whole lot of American-style violence with none of the classic grit or wit.<\/p>\n

Enjoyable? You bet, in all its twists and turns. But this darkly humorous crime caper is overstuffed with a cast of colourful convicts and subplots that ultimately lead\u2026 well, nowhere. Don\u2019t expect anything deeper beyond Austin Butler\u2019s admittedly charming smile. <\/p>\n

Caught Stealing was more sizzle than steak, if you will (kind of like how everybody exudes \u201csexiness\u201d on social media without any real sex appeal these days). Which is surprising, given both the filmmaker we know Aronofsky is (side note: The Wrestler is still all-time) and the fact that Charlie Huston, who penned the novel of the same name, adapted his story.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0B.H.\u00a0perspective:\u00a0It\u2019ll be a cracking movie to watch the next time you\u2019re on a long-haul international flight, right after you give up on that dry-ass WWII tome or who-gives-a-f**k self-help pulp you ambitiously packed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

They Don\u2019t Make \u2018Em Like They Used To\u2026<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll never get another movie like Enter the Dragon again. Not just because it\u2019s so deliciously 70s, but because we\u2019ve yet to find an action star as magnetic and commanding as the one and only Bruce Lee.<\/p>\n

Equal parts kung fu classic and spy-adjacent thriller, this iconic oldie is paced to edge-of-your-seat perfection and delivers action sequences you can feel the impact of through the screen. A welcome bonus to casting the forebearer of MMA as your leading man, who viewed cinema as a side hustle to his martial art endeavours (and not the other way around). <\/p>\n

Of course, this wasn\u2019t exactly a solo undertaking. Enter the Dragon also wouldn\u2019t quite be what we know it as today without the roguish charms of John Saxon as Roper, the effortless cool of Jim Kelly as Williams, the animalistic intimidation of Bob Wall as O\u2019Hara, or the villainous stylings of Shih Kien as Han. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to B.H.\u2019s Screen Time, where every week, we\u2019ll give you the cliff notes on what\u2019s happening in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,82863,57738,48,20360,134,9054,14627,228,7749,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-117092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bruce-lee","11":"tag-call-of-duty","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-disney-plus","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-hbo","16":"tag-paramount","17":"tag-review","18":"tag-screen-time","19":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}