In a surprise pre-Comic Con announcement, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that they’ve signed on Sam Raimi (Drag Me to Hell, Spider Man franchise) to direct the feature film adaptation of their long-running computer series Warcraft.
From the article at ComingSoon.net:
“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story,” said Raimi. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”
The production team he’s speaking of includes Charles Roven who does have a lot of winners on his plate like The Dark Knight and 12 Monkeys. However, he also was the producer for Cadillac Man, which is the only movie I have ever wanted to walk out of because the beginning was just so dull and unlikable.
Other members of the team include his producing partner Alex Gartner, Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni from Legendary Pictures, and Raimi and his producing partner Joshua Donen (of course). Raimi’s other partner Robert Tapert will be an executive producer and on Blizzard’s side Chris Metzen will be a co-producer and has written the script. (Incidentally? I was a freshman and Metzen was a senior at the same high school. It’s so nice to know he’s doing so well.) On the money end, the film will be co-financed by Warner Bros. as part of an existing deal with Legendary Pictures.
As for the plot, there are several theories as to what it could be, according to the Wikipedia entry for the computer game series:
2006: THR reports that the movie will be part of the shared universe of Warcraft, but not be a direct adaptation of any of its games or expansion packs.
2007: Announcements at Blizzard’s own convention BlizzCon (and reported by WarcraftMovieChronicles.com) reveal that they’re aiming for a 2009 release date (which I assume they’re now revising since they only just announced a director), the budget will be close to $100 million, it will be a PG-13 movie of about 2 1/2 hours, and the movie will follow a “bad-ass” hero who fights for the Alliance made up of humans, elves, dwarves, and other “good” creatures.
I’m sure that with the sold out SDCC coming up this weekend and BlizzCon on August 21 and 22, there will be more information coming out about the movie, so I’m reserving my judgment till then.
Vernon Sanchez says:
here
arkonbey says:
I hope it isn't CGI. That would be extraordinarily redundant.
gmcalpin says:
I think it's a given that there will be SOME CG in it. But fully CG? No, it's a live-action movie (according to the origial 2006 release), not an animated movie.
Liam Kruger says:
I think the bigger question here is how Raimi's going to work a Campbell cameo into this one.
arkonbey says:
aw, man! Are you saying that Bruce doesn't deserve a role? Harsh.
arkonbey says:
aw, man! Are you saying that Bruce doesn't deserve a role? Harsh.