WoW at the movies

wardie214

WoW Heads To Movies

The hit online game World of Warcraft is heading to the big screen, as
Warner Brothers-based Legendary Pictures has picked up film rights and
will develop the project with game publisher Blizzard Entertainment,
which is owned by Vivendi, Variety reported.

World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing fantasy
game, has more than 6 million subscribers who not only team up to go
on quests, but also interact and form deep social relationships, the
trade paper reported.

The only other video games that rival World of Warcraft are the Grand
Theft Auto and Halo franchises. Universal and Fox are revising a
script for Microsoft's Halo movie, with hopes to release it in the
summer of 2007, though they may have to push back that date since the
movie doesn't even have a director yet. Universal is owned by NBC
Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM

lazygit

lets hope its not some D&D type effort..
a happy bunch of 5 alliance head off to kill the evil horde or some such nonsence!

Kiith

i'd say it'll more likely be a team effort (alliance human and horde orc) joining up to kill some demon or something like that. can't really have the horde as the bad guys.

nix

hummmm every game to movie so far has been ****. I dont think this will be any exception. I just see it being a rip off of the LOTR trilogy.

koneko

Ah yes. I would bet money it'll have some sort of lame nod at Leeroy Jenkins.

I can see this working as a full CG movie, but that won't happen.

Ivan

I'm pretty sure it says on wow-europe.com that its gonna be live action

anonymous_joe

/shudder

koneko

Ivan wrote:

I'm pretty sure it says on wow-europe.com that its gonna be live action

Unfortunatly, yup. I just can't picture it being any good, but we shall see.

Jim

Hopefully dodgy CGI will be kept down to a mimium. I'm reserving judgement until I see whos writing/directing it.

(Please not John Woo, Please not John Woo, Please not John Woo)

Tar.Aldarion

This should be hilarioous. I hope it has my favourite warcraft characters,

Memnoch

well if any game was going to be translated to a decent Movie my hope would be for WoW.

Blizzard really do strive for excellence in what they day and every game they have produced thus far has excelled in it's genre. If they maintain some sort of say over how the movie turns out then i'm hopeful it will be decen.

Leprachaun

The Fellowship of Argent Dawn must travel to the fiery Black Rock Mountain and destroy the one epic from whence it came.......

Characters include: Randolf,an old mage whos too hairy for his own good, Lindir,a druken dwarf, and Bits and Bobs,2 gay Gnomes who are alone at the end of their travels.

Mawg

They should let the guys from Blizz do all of the animation, their cutscenes are amazing!

WTF_L2P_n00b

It'll be a trilogy. heres the PUG Version

Part 1

Set in Ironforge. Length 2 hours.

LF1M Healer for "Enter desired Instance here"

Part 2

Set in UBRS. Lenght 2 hours.

Get to the Beast or somewhere.....some muppet is winding someone in the group up or some muppet ninja's something.

OMG WTF you NINJA $%^£"

No I need the pristine hide of the beast.

OMFG you &^%$

Group splits up.

Part 3

Set in Ironforge. Length 2 hours.

LF1M Healer for "Enter desired Instance here"

anonymous_joe

How do they make these things so realistic!?

Wreck

Blizzard Press Release wrote:

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® AND LEGENDARY PICTURES SIGN SAM RAIMITO DIRECT UPCOMING WARCRAFT® MOVIE

Raimi, acclaimed director of the blockbuster Spider-Man series, will bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in epic live-action film. Charles Roven's Atlas Entertainment will produce alongside Raimi's Stars Road Entertaiment.



LOS ANGELES, Calif. – July 22, 2009 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment®’s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Raimi has, in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content.

More Here

I think this is great news, Rami has made some very enjoyable films and at least there is some movement on the project after a long silence from Blizz.

(Also, this post is some necro-bump :pac:)

WellyJ

While I hate the Spiderman movies, I am glad that a "big name" has been assigned to this. The producer being Charles Roven who also produced The Dark Knight is great to hear also.

Looking forward to this, if it's good thats nice, if it is **** Blizzard will cancel it before it gets released! Win win.

Karl Hungus

I can't wait to see Bruce Campbell as Leeroy Jenkins.

Schism

Good news, I can't see this failing now. Considering they've got some big names in tow now and the financial clout Blizz can throw behind it.

smithcity

Well I checked out Sam Raimi's upcoming projects on IMDB and there's not a peep about World of Warcraft, though one of the 21 movies he's got in development is called "Untitled Sam Raimi Project", make of it what you will.

I'm not so sure he'd be a great choice, he's a good director when he's working on his own projects, but he doesn't have much integrity when it comes to working on big studio pieces. He let's the studio tell him what to do, and so ends up with movies he's not proud of, like Spiderman 3.

You can bet there'll be a lot of interference from the studio on a project like WoW.
It'll be interesting to see who the draft in to do the screenplay when things get a bit further down the line.

][cEMAN**

Considering the amount of back story to this game, there's a good chance it would be well worth watching.

Even the fan made films are well worth watching. The animated ones.

Wow is effectively like the silmarillion (lotr), so they could either start from the beginning, or start with a story in the middle, and backtrack or do flashbacks or a progression on main characters or stories.

smithcity

Good point, it could be really really like the Silmarillion, that would be bloody epic!

mayordenis

I have to say the books I've always found to be excellent like - so for sure the source material is there - there's a full vivid world and some pretty nice races overall it has the ingredients - we'll see.

][cEMAN**

If Blizzard are heavily involved in this, there may be a player competition, or something open to blizzcon attenders where they could get in as extras. Y'never know...

TheDoc

It is one of those films that on paper cannot fail.

Story is there, characters of epic proportions, the settings, the factions, the armies, the scale.

all they have to do, is get good actors, and scenes and good staff.

Though i said the same for alien vs predator and the likes

lotr with more blood, proper characters and your laughing.

Illidan versus Arthas on screen would be on par with obi wan against anakin

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

It's a warcraft film, not a world of warcraft film, which is differant O.o

Schism

Abdullah Dead Mothball wrote: »

It's a warcraft film, not a world of warcraft film, which is differant O.o

Thank god.

Mr. CooL ICE

Karl Hungus wrote:

I can't wait to see Bruce Campbell as Leeroy Jenkins.

Bollox to that. Let Carl Weathers be Leeroy Jenkins!

No wait, scratch that. Carl Weathers only plays Carl Weathers. Maybe he could be a weapon merchant or something?

Abdullah Dead Mothball wrote:

It's a warcraft film, not a world of warcraft film, which is differant O.o

Thank christ. A movie about killing wolves for 8 tough wolf meat would be a bit much

elexes

follow the story or the lore of warcraft. its fairly simple the main story is there

should be good

WellyJ

elexes wrote: »

follow the story or the lore of warcraft. its fairly simple the main story is there

should be good

They can't exactly follow the whole lore of Warcraft, would be the longest movie ever.

Will be interesting to see what exactly they will include.

Schism

WellyJ wrote: »

They can't exactly follow the whole lore of Warcraft, would be the longest movie ever.

Will be interesting to see what exactly they will include.

More than one movie?

elexes

WellyJ wrote: »

They can't exactly follow the whole lore of Warcraft, would be the longest movie ever.

Will be interesting to see what exactly they will include.

3 movies . use the same type of guys that done lotr the orcs in that looked good the ents were realistic the balrog ( sp ) looked kick ass. overall well done

Agent J

It'll be 5 euro for the 1st 60 mins then 3 euro each for the 30 mins expansions....

Anti

I have a feeling this will fail so hard

smithcity

elexes wrote: »

3 movies . use the same type of guys that done lotr the orcs in that looked good the ents were realistic the balrog ( sp ) looked kick ass. overall well done

The Weta workshop did those effects. They're top class

][cEMAN**

I'd think 3 films will be the way they'll go. Start at Chapter IV: Alliance And Horde bringing in all the fans that don't really know that much about the lore (including me), then follow up with chapter V if it goes well. Chapter VI, if they can keep it going, then back to Chapters I-III (why am I still using roman numerals?) if they can milk it like lucas.

They might just do chapters 1-3 as an animated 'keep you interested' piece in between films.

Really, there's so many ways this could go. Sticking with main lore characters is a good way to keep current fans familiar, without needing to have the 5 man group idea for people to think "That's like my toon". Keep it the way it is in WoW (and yes this is a warcraft film, world of warcraft is just an expansion of the warcraft universe, not a seperate entity as such), with you seeing the main characters in major cities, or having the long quest chain story lines being shown in the film.

The other way they could do it would be to please the majority of wow fans (who usually favour horde), and do a "Warcraft.....Thrall's story" kind of film.

I'd say there'll be a few writers throwing in scripts for this and putting in their own ideas. Blizzard manage to keep the trailers we get each expansion epic enough, so I don't think there'll be too much of a problem with them causing a bad film. It'll be at least watchable. It might even be epic.

Jumpy

I think it will be Arthas. He is one story that you can follow from Golden child to Evil screwed up undead psycho.

elexes

Jumpy wrote: »

I think it will be Arthas. He is one story that you can follow from Golden child to Evil screwed up undead psycho.

star wars but with orks


Arthas :thrall i raped your mum!!!


Arthas :i am your father !!!


Thrall : noes QQ !!! whers a shammy when you need it heal me .


the real question tho . will ozzy be the undead warlock.
will vin get a part as a gnome mage ( since he plays one )
who would u like to play a rogue male or female ?

Wreck

The story line is unknown as of yet, but timeline wise its going to be set in between The Frozen Throne (i.e. the turning of Arthas) and the opening of World of Warcraft, which I think is about 4 years. So its probably going to be a new story, with unknowns as the main characters, but many of the more famous WoW personages are likely to feature in some way - Thrall, Jana etc. Chris Metzen is going to be heavily involved in the wrtiting, which is good news according to all the fanbois on the forums.

Obviously this whole project could be a massie failure, but with Blizzard retaining so much control of it I'm quite optimistic that it won't be.

Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing, apparently it's going to be from an alliance perspective - i.e the main chars are likely to be human, night-elf or dwarves. Sadly, I don't think gnomes are going to play a huge part in this.

smithcity

Looks like you're right, Chris Metzen is writing, I don't know if he's doing story, screenplay or both.
It'd probably be better to get in a collaborator on screenplay as he doesn't seem to have any experience writing for movies.
Anyhow, according to IMDB it's scheduled for release in 2011, which seems realistic enough.
Found these tidbits on WoWWiki:

"The film was originally set in the era of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. This was scrapped, however, as there were notions that it would be too similar to Lord of the Rings and that Warcraft had reached its current level of popularity through its MMORPG, rather than the previous RTS games.[1]
As such, the movie is set one year before World of Warcraft and will primarily told from the Alliance's POV, though Metzen says his heart lies with the Horde. Characters such as Cairne Bloodhoof, Thrall, Sylvanas Windrunner, and Bolvar Fordragon are likely to make appearances. Arthas is unlikely to appear.[1] The main character is set to be a new hero described as a "kick-ass Human". [2] Chris Metzen has stated that the new "kick-ass Human" character in the movie is not same one as in the comic (now known to be Varian Wrynn).[3] Interestingly enough, the film is described as the "first film", raising obvious possibilities as to future installments."

Also, the most encouraging thing that shows they have some integrity and arent simply trying to throw a film together which will get the fans in and make a few quid:
Uwe Boll attempted to apply for the job of director, from which Blizzard CEO Paul Sams replied "We will not sell the movie rights, not to you…especially not to you."

Ivan

Fail posts are fail.













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Report button, use it please.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Who is Uwe Boll?

TheDoc

Have to say the lore and scope it can be a fantastic epic piece.

I have read alot of books and animated films and original comics and the likes and the scope is just huge, much like star wars, they could make six films and still have enough fresh content for twelve more.

The essential part will be capturing the scale and scope and "mood" of the Warcraft universe. It will obviously be related to lord of the rings, being that they will be classed as similar films, however for me Warcraft has so much more to offer.

I think its a pity they are focusing it shortly before WoW, and although there has been interesting story lines that have happened throughout WoW ( if you bothered reading quests) the really interesting ones happened before WoW.

Illidans story is one of the more interesting ones, and his a character that would be bad ass on screen. His story line through WoW was a bit limp, and obviously weaved so the player could kill him, although that just wouldnt happen

Illidan obviously spent over a millenium in captivity so his original story would be pretty far back, but even his escape and pursuit by the nightelves, his trek to northrend, and his eventual climactic battle with Arthas would be pretty interesting.

Arthas himself obviously has an interesting story, from his growth as pretty much the "chosen one" who would bring Humans to the forefront of the world, and his eventual downfall and intagration with frostmourne to become the lich king.

Each race in WoW that you choose for your character, has lore history of over a millenium, with a huge range of characters and immersive story ines. Its a pity though because the weakest ones have been the ones included in the WoW universe, because they have been tailored for players to finish big characters. Ultimately I can only assume we will kill Arthas, which would be **** ( hated how we could kill illidan)

I think the only fail surroudning this is the time line they are going for

TheDoc

Abdullah Dead Mothball wrote: »

Who is Uwe Boll?

lol?

Is he connected to this?

He is a bloke that purchases movie rights to games, because they are so cheap. Because most games have an established fan base, he makes the movies mostly on location in Germany, where he received huge tax relief and benefits, and basically swindled the system, his output usually being a piss poor attempt at a film, but he makes huge profits.

This is in relation to the benefits directors and movie makers get by shooting in Germany and using german staff and the likes. The films are always pants, and when you see Uwe Boll, you know its going to be a disaster.

However he is laughing himself to death as one of the wealthiest men in hollywood, and I believe the laws are being changed in Germany because of himself, it was pretty ingenius in fairness.

However if he is attached to this, I'll stop wondering about a warcraft movie.

However I believe a number of game designers are now aware of his scams and will not sell him game rights.

He originally failed attaining rights to Halo, and was recently snubbed for Gears of War, Fable and overlord if I'm not mistaken...hes basicaly a ****.

WellyJ

TheDoc wrote: »

lol?

Is he connected to this?

He is a bloke that purchases movie rights to games, because they are so cheap. Because most games have an established fan base, he makes the movies mostly on location in Germany, where he received huge tax relief and benefits, and basically swindled the system, his output usually being a piss poor attempt at a film, but he makes huge profits.

This is in relation to the benefits directors and movie makers get by shooting in Germany and using german staff and the likes. The films are always pants, and when you see Uwe Boll, you know its going to be a disaster.

However he is laughing himself to death as one of the wealthiest men in hollywood, and I believe the laws are being changed in Germany because of himself, it was pretty ingenius in fairness.

However if he is attached to this, I'll stop wondering about a warcraft movie.

However I believe a number of game designers are now aware of his scams and will not sell him game rights.

He originally failed attaining rights to Halo, and was recently snubbed for Gears of War, Fable and overlord if I'm not mistaken...hes basicaly a ****.

The only attachment that Uwe Boll has to this is the following:

It's been known for some time that Blizzard has a movie adaptation of their popular World of Warcraft MMO in the works. The movie panel at last year's BlizzCon event was chock full of details, and it really seemed like they were on track. So you have to wonder at what point it got into Uwe Boll's head to approach the company about the possibility of directing such a film. Boll talks about his contact with the folks at Blizzard in a new interview with the MTV Movies blog.

As you might imagine, Blizzard's response was in the negative. If you can believe Boll, their response was, "We will not sell the movie rights, not to you...especially not to you." The famed schlock director went on, "Because it's such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it."

smithcity

smithcity wrote: »

Uwe Boll attempted to apply for the job of director, from which Blizzard CEO Paul Sams replied "We will not sell the movie rights, not to you…especially not to you."

That was his only connection to the project. I only mentioned it because it shows that the producers are serious about making a decent film, rather than milking the warcraft cash cow.

smithcity

Epic online game World of Warcraft is to be adapted for the big screen.
Spider-Man director Sam Raimi has signed on to helm the epic fantasy adventure, which is based on the hugely popular virtual world franchise.
ADVERTISEMENT

The game, which tells the story of an epic conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, launched in 1994. Its recent expansion pack - Wrath of the Lich King - sold nearly three million copies in its first week of release.
The series allows gamers to create their own persona, or avatar to be more precise, which you can then roam through the huge universe at your leisure.
"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action packed story," said Raimi.
Warner Bros president Jeff Robinov added, "Warcraft is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which our studio is best known."
Raimi will finish work on Spider-Man 4, which starts production early next year, before directing World of Warcraft.

link from:
http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/22072009/5/world-warcraft-movie-0.html

WellyJ

Eh, whats new about that Smith?

Nothing there has not already been mentioned and confirmed elsewhere in this thread.

smithcity

I'm so sorry Welly. Thank you for your help. I'll contain myself, mind if I email you my posts in future for your personal approval before I stick them on here?
Don't wanna go wasting anybody elses time.

Just thought that since the article gave an idea of the time frame in which the film might be expected to start production, somebody might be interested. I'll check in with you first next time, just to be sure.

WellyJ

smithcity wrote: »

I'm so sorry Welly. Thank you for your help. I'll contain myself, mind if I email you my posts in future for your personal approval before I stick them on here?
Don't wanna go wasting anybody elses time.

Just thought that since the article gave an idea of the time frame in which the film might be expected to start production, somebody might be interested. I'll check in with you first next time, just to be sure.

smithcity

touché