Warcraft Movie Coming in 2009
Expect major pwnage.
Get your level 60 Blood Elf Paladins ready; World of Warcraft, the biggest MMO vid game known to man, is finally coming to theaters.
More details on the project were revealed yesterday during BlizzCon 2007, the annual fan event hosted by Warcraft creator Blizzard Entertainment. Legendary Pictures bought the adaptation rights last year, and hope to turn the colossal fantasy world of Warcraft into a live-action battle movie of epic proportions similar to another Legendary project: 300.
IGN was on hand to relay what Blizzard CEO Chris Metzen and Legendary Pictures head Thomas Tull had to share. While no director or cast members have been chosen, the developers and studio have settled on a sort of origin story, rather than a Lord of the Rings-type adventure. From IGN: "The story will incorporate a series of major events from about one year before World of Warcraft, and will be principally told from the perspective of the Alliance."
Uber-nerds may or may not like the bits shared on what characters we may expect to see on the big screen. According to IGN, "characters likely to make an appearance include Bolvar Fordragon, Thrall, and Cairne Bloodhoof. Arthas, a famous character from Warcraft 3, will more than likely not be in the film."
As for a director, Tull (who executive-produced 300 and Superman Returns) said they're looking for someone along the lines of a Zack Snyder or a Chris Nolan, both of whom have had recent hits (300 and Batman Begins, respectively) produced by Legendary Pictures.
In a post-panel interview with IGN, Blizzard Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams says they're close to finding that director and also that members of WoW's cinematics team are working closely in the development process to give the film the same look and feel of the game.
With a budget over $100 million, the Warcraft movie is being positioned as a 2009 tentpole flick for Warner Bros., who owns Legendary. While Metzen and Tull didn't identify a MPAA rating for the flick, it seems that a PG-13 rating is likely. The Warcraft The Movie blog adds Tull's description of the film: "It's absolutely a war movie. Cultures grinding up to a horrible moment where it just all spills over and gets out of control. Less of an adventure party quest-type situation. More of an armies building to an inevitable conclusion type situation."
More details on the project were revealed yesterday during BlizzCon 2007, the annual fan event hosted by Warcraft creator Blizzard Entertainment. Legendary Pictures bought the adaptation rights last year, and hope to turn the colossal fantasy world of Warcraft into a live-action battle movie of epic proportions similar to another Legendary project: 300.
IGN was on hand to relay what Blizzard CEO Chris Metzen and Legendary Pictures head Thomas Tull had to share. While no director or cast members have been chosen, the developers and studio have settled on a sort of origin story, rather than a Lord of the Rings-type adventure. From IGN: "The story will incorporate a series of major events from about one year before World of Warcraft, and will be principally told from the perspective of the Alliance."
Uber-nerds may or may not like the bits shared on what characters we may expect to see on the big screen. According to IGN, "characters likely to make an appearance include Bolvar Fordragon, Thrall, and Cairne Bloodhoof. Arthas, a famous character from Warcraft 3, will more than likely not be in the film."
As for a director, Tull (who executive-produced 300 and Superman Returns) said they're looking for someone along the lines of a Zack Snyder or a Chris Nolan, both of whom have had recent hits (300 and Batman Begins, respectively) produced by Legendary Pictures.
In a post-panel interview with IGN, Blizzard Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams says they're close to finding that director and also that members of WoW's cinematics team are working closely in the development process to give the film the same look and feel of the game.
With a budget over $100 million, the Warcraft movie is being positioned as a 2009 tentpole flick for Warner Bros., who owns Legendary. While Metzen and Tull didn't identify a MPAA rating for the flick, it seems that a PG-13 rating is likely. The Warcraft The Movie blog adds Tull's description of the film: "It's absolutely a war movie. Cultures grinding up to a horrible moment where it just all spills over and gets out of control. Less of an adventure party quest-type situation. More of an armies building to an inevitable conclusion type situation."
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(1-20 of 58 posts) | Reply
on Aug 05 2007 05:45 PM Sounds pretty neat. (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 06:00 PM Seems like they are preparing for it well, but who knows how this will turn out. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 06:07 PM Oh brother... Two of the most iron clad rules of entertainment are: 1. Movies based on games suck. 2. Games based on movies suck even more. I'll be very VERY sceptical as both a movie fan, and a former WoW addict. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 06:48 PM More proof that Hollywood is out of ideas. They're just ripping apart anything that will make money, without any real creative thought. It'll suck, and it'll be the biggest movie of the year. Lame. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 06:50 PM I think the bigger question is whether or not you can peel the diehard fans away from their computers for the 2 hours that it's going to take to watch the movie. I've known people that have lost jobs and skipped friends' weddings and other special occasions because of that damn game. I also know people that look EXACTLY like the guy in the South Park episode. Creepy. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 07:01 PM I hope this bombs, it sounds awful. They know it's going to suck, and they think a big name director is going to solve this disaster of a movie idea. (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 07:24 PM More Details htt (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 07:36 PM This... is a terrible idea. I'm not saying that because it's a video game movie and I'm making some kind of reactionary judgment. I actually think a more than decent animated series could be made based on much of the Warcraft lore. For a movie however... what will it be, a series of 90 second vignettes of fan service for each WOW fan's favorite fill-in-the-blank? Just an endless chain of I mean, who needs that? There's no way that they could avoid biting off more than they could possibly chew in making this film. There's just no way. And on a slightly different topic... how bizarre is a person with a level 60 blood elf paladin? That's seriously what the article is being led off with? A post TBC character at the pre-TBC level cap? What is that, just a couple of untargeted wow references tossed out off the cuff? Might as well just say "big news for you hep cats with your hip hop and your pac-man video game mtv big mac time!" Especially since for 2009 saying "get your level 80 Death Knights ready". I mean... it's a question of relevance, no? (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 07:39 PM I totally lost a "would make much more sense" around the end there. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 07:42 PM I play WoW currently and I don't see a problem with the Warcraft series becoming a movie. Sure it'll end up being a colorful LOTR rip-off but it might still be worth seeing. (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 08:08 PM Well here's a bag of horse**** for us all to choke down. I wonder why this needs to happen. Really. This is just pointless. So you want to make a movie about elves and knights and goblins all getting ready to go to war with each other? Fine. If that's a movie you want to make, make it. But why bother calling it 'world of warcraft'? The only point is name recognition. This movie will barely resemble that game. (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 08:22 PM Yeah, I pretty much chose that example to see who of our readers would know that the highest level isn't 60 anymore and that blood elves could be paladins with the first expansion pack. I guess that reader is you. Congrats. (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 08:51 PM hey, if south park can create a legendary episode out of it then, i'm okay with a big movie about it. still, big ups for matt and trey for being the first to pick up on this apparent phenomomen that i still don't get. but when i think of this movie's future aspects, i think the great eric theodore cartman said it best,"your about to get poned!" of, it would help to know what the word "poned" means but hey if Stan's Dad goes "Awww, My Gawd" about something then it usually means it something to respect & good. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 08:57 PM "I ate the dork bait at rottentomatoes and all I got was this stupid post out in the ether." (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 09:48 PM "As for a director, Tull (who executive-produced 300 and Superman Returns) said they're looking for someone along the lines of a Zack Snyder or a Chris Nolan, both of whom have had recent hits (300 and Batman Begins, respectively) produced by Legendary Pictures." In other words they have no idea. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 10:00 PM I think it could be good. Batman Begins and 300 were both awesome movies. As much as I hate the idea of a Warcraft movie, don't write it off just because it's uninspired and unoriginal. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 10:01 PM In reply to this comment (#1014488) Except that it'll have all of the races and lots of places from that game, and it will follow the storyline, etc etc etc. (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 10:30 PM :) I so seldom have any dork bait to lay around here. Forgive me. Friends, Darkness? (Reply to this) |
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on Aug 05 2007 11:05 PM that will be interesting.i want to see arthas.but not played by orlando bloom i hope (Reply to this) |
on Aug 05 2007 11:58 PM world of warcraft is one of the biggest waists of money this world has ever known...... and this movie isn't going to work out.... i just know that it's not going to. (Reply to this) |
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