Five Major Studios Compete in High-Stakes Bidding War for Michael B. Jordan's 'Battlefield' Movie

Electronic Arts’ “Battlefield” is drawing fire from all sides as five studios have submitted bids for the Christopher McQuarrie/Michael B. Jordan package, with Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon MGM Studios, Sony, Universal, and Netflix all in the fight for what is shaping up to be the biggest bidding war of the year, The Wrap has exclusively learned.

McQuarrie is set to write, direct, and produce an adaptation of the bestselling video game series, while recent “Sinners” Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan is onboard to produce and potentially star.

From PC to Consoles: The Evolution of the 'Battlefield' Franchise

The first video game in the series, “Battlefield 1942,” launched for PC and Mac in 2002. Since then, the series expanded from computer platforms to video game consoles, covering historical conflicts like Vietnam and futuristic settings. Last year’s “Battlefield 6” was rumored to be one of the most expensive video games ever created and became the bestselling game of 2023 (and of the entire franchise).

Video Games Take Center Stage in Hollywood

Video games are having a moment in Hollywood, with a number of high-profile projects in the works. The “Super Mario Galaxy Movie”, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo, and Universal, is already a certifiable blockbuster and the biggest movie of 2026 so far, with $764 million worldwide.

Other video game-based movies set for release this year include:

• New Line Cinema’s “Mortal Kombat II”
• Sony’s “Resident Evil”
• Paramount’s “Street Fighter”
• Paramount’s new “Angry Birds” movie

Next year will see the highly anticipated release of “The Legend of Zelda” from Nintendo and Sony.

Rival Franchise 'Call of Duty' Heads to the Big Screen

The “Battlefield” package arrives as Paramount prepares its own feature film adaptation of the rival video game franchise “Call of Duty,” with Taylor Sheridan set to write and Peter Berg set to direct.

Christopher McQuarrie’s Proven Track Record

McQuarrie is coming off directing the last two “Mission: Impossible” movies—“Dead Reckoning” and “The Final Reckoning”—back-to-back through COVID and strikes, and has spent the better part of the last decade embedded in that franchise.

The Oscar-winning screenwriter of “The Usual Suspects” struck up a close relationship with Tom Cruise while working on “Edge of Tomorrow,” at which time Cruise decided he’d be a good fit for what became “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.” He broke with precedent by directing the next three installments of the franchise. Before “Rogue Nation,” McQuarrie directed Cruise in 2012’s “Jack Reacher.”

A rep for Electronic Arts declined to comment.