World of Warcraft - High Budget Movie

The last major update that we had on AICN on the WORLD OF WARCRAFT came from Moriarty here, back in 2007 The last major bit I heard was a rumor that Uwe Boll was offering Blizzard untold tonnages of gold left crowns of undetermined origin to direct - and that allegedly BLIZZARD laughed his ass out of the place. In Mori's piece we were supposed to get this movie in 2009 with a $100 million budget. With LEGENDARY's main man telling BLIZZCON that it'd be over that figure. And there was some concept art.

Well, I don't have concept art. I don't have the firm release date, but I do know who is directing the WORLD OF WARCRAFT film and that is Sam Raimi. It will come out in trades later this week or next. But you can take this one to the bank. Sam is going to make a huge budget fantasy bit of un****ingimaginable coolness - and it will be yanked from the WORLD OF WARCRAFT.

Now - isn't that the sort of Awesome we're supposed to get to kick start Comic Con with? I think so.

I really think this is going to be amazing. How about you?

This is sounding pretty great. Whether you play World of Warcraft or not, there's no denying that the cinematics Blizzard do are amazing, and with a budget that outstandingly big - it can't be that bad.

Also, check out the director's IMDB page. He's a really great director. No the best, but he's done some big movies like the Spiderman films and 30 Days of Night (love that movie.)

EDIT: Here's a more in-depth article, hot from the press.

Warcraft is up there with Halo when it comes to in-game universes I love a lot.

I await this eagerly.

I hope that they explain in layman's terms that the Alliance are truly the evil ones.

I also wonder what it will contain. There's so many possibilities, like endless, even just using whatever is in World of Warcraft.

Yeah, there's so much promise for this movie. I mean, even looking at the cutscenes at the start of the expansions - they're great. With a fully fledged movie like this, along with possibly the largest gamer following ever, it has to be huge.

No doubt they'll add in every tiny detail of the lore so the hardcore WoW players will be able to fangasm. Also, can I say EPIC BATTLES?

It'd be great if they made a series and based each film around a certain boss/instance/content update from the game.

Start out with the Onxyia chain, then Molten Core, BWL, ect., ect., ect...

Haha. It'd be great if they did multiple movies. There's not really much point in saying "we'd have to wait and see if it does well", since you know it's going to be a megaton hit.

I have not played WoW. Though if I had the money I would probably consider it. Mostly because I love High Fantasy stories and games. So even I am excited for this. And I just found out about it... like ten minutes ago.

Yeah man. Maybe have ten main characters, five from each faction, forming their own parties and going about their adventures while the movie shows both sides of the story?

Human Paladin, Dwarf Huntard, Night Elf Rogue, Gnome Mage and a Dranei...something, while an Orc Warrior, Troll Shaman, Tauren Shaman, Undead Warlock and a Blood Elf Priest go about their buisness.

There's SO much lore to dig from. omfggggg

I wonder if Chuck Norris will somehow be involved? Barren's Chat needs some loving. I would cum if Un'Goro Crater got some screen time.

If Barrens chat is referenced to, then God save us all.

A WoW movie? That's interesting (:

I wonder if it will focus on the Horde vs Alliance conflict or perhaps an entirely original story of it's own.

If they could pull half the epicness that the Mountain Dew Game Fuel commercial had, then I'd easily see this movie a couple times.

Originally Posted by Blue

I hope that they explain in layman's terms that the Alliance are truly the evil ones.

I agree with this.

Originally Posted by Notsil

If Barrens chat is referenced to, then God save us all.

I agree with this more.

Originally Posted by Sheogoroth

I wonder if it will focus on the Horde vs Alliance conflict or perhaps an entirely original story of it's own.

Whatever it is, it's going to be using the lore that already exists, no doubt. Considering how rich and in-depth it is, it's got to be a good story.

Interesting concept, but I don't think the movie'll be very successful. Of course, most WoW players'll watch it, I guess, but the overall quality won't be very good... I think.

Correction; official sources never labeled it as a WoW movie, but as a more general Warcraft movie.

I doubt it's going to follow one of the games or novels directly; rather, it will be a new story set in the Warcraft universe.

Originally Posted by TheLastViking

Interesting concept, but I don't think the movie'll be very successful. Of course, most WoW players'll watch it, I guess, but the overall quality won't be very good... I think.

You're talking about the single most successful MMO ever made, and one of the most successful RTS franchises of all time (Not to mention one of the most successful PC videogame franchises of all time).

It's going to be extremely successful, there's no doubt about that; as for its quality, Blizzard isn't like other videogame companies that let other media companies rape their IPs.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

Spiderman films and 30 Days of Night

Well that's a bad omen if I've ever heard one

I read up on this, the story is supposed to take place shortly before the main events of all the happenings in WoW. Which begs the question, what the **** is this movie going to be about?

Also, I eagerly anticipate the butchering of the lore, etc. etc. Sam Raimi is a pretty sub-par director, I have absolutely no faith that he'll be the one man to make a video game movie that doesn't suck

Originally Posted by dangercheetah

Well that's a bad omen if I've ever heard one

I read up on this, the story is supposed to take place shortly before the main events of all the happenings in WoW. Which begs the question, what the **** is this movie going to be about?

Also, I eagerly anticipate the butchering of the lore, etc. etc. Sam Raimi is a pretty sub-par director, I have absolutely no faith that he'll be the one man to make a video game movie that doesn't suck

The first two Spiderman films were awesome. If he channels the creativity that he used to create those two films in to this one, there is nothing to fear, at all.

Plus, the lore isn't going to be butchered, as, apparently, the lore bosses of Blizzard are working closely with the development of the film. Blizzard has always made sure that the Warcraft universe remains consistent across all media; this won't be any different.

You're right, you're right. The first two Spiderman movies were good, but the director himself lost all integrity with the third. I refuse to forgive him

Plus even though the first two were decent, the directing was nothing to write home about. They were just the first Superhero movies of their kind. It was a trend setter

As for lore not being butchered, you may be right but I still respond with a WE SHALL SEE. Companies have said that in the past, after all

Besides I can't really think of any plot for a WoW movie that isn't totally cliche fantasy romp or a boring, awkwardly done tribute to fans. But once again, we shall see. We shall see. Maybe they'll surprise me

Considering the scope of WoW lore is on par with tolkien, there shouldn't be a problem with grand plot and epic battle scenes.

I do worry about having absolutely no memorable characters to identify with as we had with LoTR. Tolkien did most of the characterization for Jackson.

This director will be working mostly from scratch in that department.

and star wars episode II dialogue could be a problem, but who knows.