Raimi to direct "Warcraft" film.

[Pyan]

No dates, casting news or other details yet, but Legendary Pictures/Warner Brothers' announcement of a big-name director would seem to indicate that there's a good chance that it's going to be made...

Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is to make a film based on video game World of Warcraft, Hollywood studio Legendary Pictures has announced.

The movie is set to be a live action version of the popular game, which enables players to become characters including dwarves, orcs and trolls.

Raimi said he was "thrilled" to be bringing such a "fantastic, action-packed story" to the screen.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Sam Raimi to direct Warcraft film

 

[BookStop]

My children will be thrilled, I just hope raimi will stay within the pg13 rating level so they can enjoy it when it finally comes out.

 

[Overread]

hmm considering Blizzard's reputation for delivering a quality product, even going as far as to not release products that don't meet their standards and with their strong position as a result of the massive success of WoW I am rather hopefull that they will keep a nice close eye on this film (something that sadly several book authors have allowed to slip with movie makes of their films)

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Oh dear.

I suspect we will have a mess.

Although the thought of a three hour film of the sound of wood chopping in the background of every scene could be quite amusing.

 

[AE35Unit]

Two words
Wide
Berth

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

AE35:

So it's the naval sequences you're looking aft to, is it?

 

[Rinman]

pyan I've got some more info to add to that...I put this in a document I wrote for Twin Galaxies, and the source of information was from Gamespot, full article was written by me but hasn't been published on Twin Galaxies' site yet, I'm still waiting for my editor to confirm it can be posted on the site (it has more movies in the full article, but here's the Warcraft information I have).

At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, then-Vivendi Games-owned Blizzard Entertainment revealed a World of Warcraft movie was in the works. At the following year’s Blizzcon, CEO Thomas Tull announced the film would be a live-action $100 million-budget epic, with a target release date of 2009. Between the 2006 and July 21, 2009, no real discussion was ever heard of about the development of the film. Talk and rumors were spread that it was being director Uwe Boll and some had even said Steven Speilberg. Instead, the filmmaker in question is Sam Raimi, director of the multibillion-dollar-grossing Spider-Man films and the horror cult classics Evil Dead and Army of Darkness. His most recent effort was this year's Drag Me to Hell, a horror thriller that won critical acclaim despite a PG-13 rating and so-so box office returns. The Warcraft film will be produced by Atlas Entertainment's Charles "Chuck" Roven, Legendary's Tull, and Raimi producing partner Joshua Donen. Blizzard Entertainment's senior vice president of creative development Chris Metzen will coproduce.

 

[ktabic]

So, a movie that will consist of two hours of running around killing critters for tails, then 10 minutes of trying to escape the lag of Ironforge.

Please no. It just won't work.

 

[Pyar]

Lol, I don't think the movie is going to simulate game play. Its going to be about the actual lore of the Warcraft universe. There are so many different story lines that they could go into. I know I read somewhere that they are looking for a story line that is somewhere between WC3: FT and WoW and is in the POV of the Alliance fighting the Horde. I think they are going for a LOTR feeling in the movie as far I can tell. I am pretty excited for the movie, hopefully it will be good.

 

[AE35Unit]

AE35:

So it's the naval sequences you're looking aft to, is it?

That would be nice yea. Hmmm a film of The Wind Whales or Ishmael, the sequel to Moby Dick by Philip Jose Farmer

 

[mushroomyakuza]

So, a movie that will consist of two hours of running around killing critters for tails, then 10 minutes of trying to escape the lag of Ironforge.

Please no. It just won't work.

Agreed - but using the story of Warcrfat 3 and the Frozen Throne would work very well, IMO. There's a lot of great material and characters for them to work with. They'd have to try quite hard to screw it up I think. I'm quietly optimistic, but I hope it isn't looking at the Alliance as the "good guys". Warcraft always did a good job of avoiding that black and white good vs evil cliche.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

What would be refreshing is to have the Orcs as the goodies - fat chance