Of all the video games that you would expect to see made into a movie franchise, Call of Duty comes in … somewhere around 47th on the list.

I’m not saying that the Call of Duty games don’t have compelling plots — er, wait — that’s exactly what I’m saying. I mean, I’m aware that the games do have plots, to the extent that “here’s a justification to basically genocide this building,” is a plot.

That’s not a criticism, by the way. I know there are people who say they play Call of Duty for the stories. That’s the modern equivalent of saying that you read Playboy for the articles. (Warning: Old person joke. You may now safely assume that I am approximately 4300 years old. Especially when I add that I’m sure someone out there will point out that Vonnegut and Mailer once wrote for Playboy. To which I respond, “Whatever. It’s still a ludicrous and laughable thing to say.”)

My point here is that it’s fine that Call of Duty isn’t exactly rich in character development. That’s not the point of the game. The point of the game is to spend untold hours slowly working up your levels and acquiring special perks and weapon upgrades so that you can lose them all when you move to the next prestige tier. That, and calling people, “losers.”

And yet, Variety reports that Stefano Sollima (director of Sicario 2) is in negotiations with Activision Blizzard Studios to produce a Call of Duty movie.

Not just a movie … a universe.

Because who does something lame like produce a single, well-crafted, stand-alone movie anymore? That’s so 1976. If you can’t spin your intellectual property into at least 5 separate movies, spin-offs, and team-ups, then people in Hollywood are literally entitled to spit in your non-dairy no-sugar chai latte.

The producers say they think the Call of Duty cinematic universe could rival the DC or Marvel universe, which could achieve the impossible: uniting DC and Marvel fans in shared nitpicking of another property. They also say they’re not planning to bring over plots from the Call of Duty games so much as a shared feel of the game.

I’m guessing their definition of the “feel” of Call of Duty is somewhat different from mine, as I don’t think a two-hour exploration of what it’s like to chase down bunny hoppers while someone describes in colorful and graphic detail what they think my sex life with my mom is like would be much of a movie. Very artsy though.

But maybe we should be grateful that someone is doing something different in a movie franchise. At least they’re not trying to surgically extract more nostalgia from a remake/reboot. Or mining the Disney properties for another way to make me watch an animal or inanimate object mouth platitudes about accepting yourself via CGI.

In fact, for all of my grousing, I’m feeling weirdly optimistic about a Call of Duty movie. And for three simple reasons.

First, it’s from Activision Blizzard, and I thought the World of Warcraft movie was goofy fun that really captured the spirit of the game. Sure, the critics didn’t like it, but face it — you’re going to have to wait a long time if you want to hear a critic praise a movie that has both an orc baby and a mage in it. The critic who defends a Warcraft-type movie will have to spend the next 9 months making allusions to Truffaut and Godard if he doesn’t want a wedgie at the next New York Film Critics Circle event.

Second, the Call of Duty games are generally positive toward the military. And I’ve run out of interest in movies where soldiers and veterans are all miserable sots, perpetually on the brink of a mental breakdown. I’m in the mood for some ’80s-style patriotic, ass-kicking soldiers. And if anyone can deliver that, I’d imagine a Call of Duty movie could.

Finally, I think the lack of a story carry-over could be a very good thing. There are no locked-in plot points that have to be followed, no characters so fetishized that casting a blonde actor to play a brunette will cause massive fan break-downs. Instead, it’s a blank canvas to create an original movie based on the idea that military heroes save people from some pretty awful things.

I gotta be honest — I wouldn’t mind seeing that.