Call of Duty continues breaking earnings records set by movies

There appears to be a shift in the entertainment media. Whereas Hollywood and films were the top dogs in the past, video games seem to be giving them a run for the money — particularly Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

The latest installment of Activision's Call of Duty is smashing earnings records not only in the video game industry, but in the film industry as well. It was announced today that Black Ops 2 crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide retail sales in just 15 days. This outpaced last year's Modern Warfare 3 by a day, and 2009's Hollywood blockbuster hit Avatar by two days. It's a startling sign for Hollywood that video games are starting to encroach on the earnings of films.

"The release of Call of Duty has been one of the most significant entertainment events of each of the last six years," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.   "Since Call of Duty was launched, cumulative franchise revenues from players around the world are greater than current worldwide box office receipts to date for the top-10 grossing films of 2012 combined."

Just last month it was revealed that life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for Harry Potter and Star Wars, two of the most successful movie franchise of all time.

Are video games becoming the new dominant force in the entertainment industry? It would certainly appear that way. As more and more consoles make their way into living rooms, more and more people will continue to purchase the blockbuster titles. The room for growth with films may be a little less due to the rising costs of movie tickets/concessions and the improvements of home entertainment devices like televisions and speakers.