World of Warcraft Movie Update: Director Signed and Projected 2015 Release

Live Posted 2013/01/30 at 7:13 PM by perculia

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We are pleased to announce that Duncan Jones, director of critically-acclaimed films Source Code and Moon, has signed on with Legendary Pictures to direct the upcoming live-action film based on the Warcraft universe. Click here for more info.

Borys.Kit

Duncan Jones is making the jump to big-budget tentpole movies, signing on to direct Warcraft, Legendary Pictures’ live-action adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s video game universe.

Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing for Legendary along with Blizzard and Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Alex Gartner.

Taking an almost kitchen-sink approach to fantasy, Warcraft, which has grown to be one of the most popular multiplayer online role-playing games out there, is part fantasy, part science fiction and — depending on the game you’re playing — includes elements such as dragons and orcs, zombies and werewolves, and aliens and spaceships.

Legendary is keeping its script, written by Charles Leavitt, under wraps. The Warner Bros.-based production and finance outfit is eyeing a fall 2013 start and a 2015 release.

Jones’ producing partner, Stuart Fenegan, will executive produce while Chris Metzen will co-produce for Blizzard.

Warcraft is a big jump up in terms of scope and scale for Jones, the filmmaker son of David Bowie known for his thoughtful sci-fi work.

Jones (CAA, Independent Talent Group, Bloom Hergott) made his feature debut writing and directing 2009's Moon, the well-regarded low-key indie sci-fi drama that starred Sam Rockwell and cost around $1 million to make. He followed that up with Source Code, Summit’s 2011 time travel thriller that starred Jake Gyllenhaal and cost around $35 million to make. Warcraft is expected to have a budget north of $100 million.

Roven most recently produced The Dark Knight Rises and is a producer on Man of Steel, both of which involved Legendary. Atlas is in pre-production on David O. Russell’s follow-up to Silver Linings Playbook, an untitled project that will star Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Production begins this March.

Legendary is prepping for the July 12 release of Guillermo del Toro’s monsters vs. mechas tentpole Pacific Rim.

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com
Twitter: @Borys_Kit

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Comment by citral2Videogame movies have ALWAYS sucked.

There is the small chance this one could break the streak, but I'll only believe it when I see it. Till then, I'm not very optimistic about its success, or its quality.

Best to assume its gonna suck, and be blown away if it doesn't, than to overhype this thing to hell, and be disappointed when it most likely ends being a piece of crap like every other video-game movie has ever been.Comment by PallyRogueSo, um, right........ Blizz, if the movie doesn't live up to your current subscriber's expectations, what do you think the movie is going to do for your interest of your future subscribers?

And which expansion is the movie gonna run? Are the writers gonna go all Lord of the Rings and do movie releases according to expansion order (Classic, BC with Illidan, WotLK, Cata with Deathwing, and then MoP) or are they just jumping in wherever they please at an attempt to grab an audience that might otherwise be unreachable?

Don't get me wrong, I really hope the movie does well, for a good production will boost the number of subscribers, but, let's face it, if it stinks, it'll kill the interest of any body looking to purchase & subscribe in the future, as well as make current players reluctant to recruit new game players. "Did you see the Warcraft movie?"

"Yeah, dude, it sucked."

"So does that mean I can't recruit you to play it with me?"

"Dude...... do you really play that game?...... What a loser."Comment by KraterI have to dissagree with u there, Resident Evil ( the 1st) was a friggin good movie.Comment by Adamsmbut, let's face it, if it stinks, it'll kill the interest of any body looking to purchase & subscribe in the future, as well as make current players reluctant to recruit new game players.Comment by alvasalreyi agree with most ppl here... we all know how the characters look , king varian, arthas, thrall etc etc. trying to cast ppl for those roles and make them look anywhere close to the cg characters is gonna be nearly impossible , i would love it if they made the movie in cg instead of live action.... besides the trailers they made are amazing funny... (epic) ... they just gotta make a longer one lolComment by alvasalreyBEWARE!

if the movie turns out too good ghostcrawler will nerf the sequel :P

on the other hand... if its a piece of crap , they will just claim it needs some balancing :PComment by SicketI got pretty sad when I saw it'll be a live action.Comment by imabubbleafter the wow movie, be prepared for a parody... (ex vampires suck) lolComment by ulnekthis movie requires a larger budget than what they have now in order for them to create the world they need. i would rather them not do the movie than just just do it by cheapening it without showing much of anything but the people in it. it should at least have the scope and visual extent as the original lord of the rings trilogy where you can see the grandeur of their world. hope they don't go the game of thrones route where you hardly see much. i like the show but it could use more zooming out to see what the land is really like, or the buildings and whatnot. if a studio commits to making a movie about something this fantastical, they should be willing and prepared to fork out the proper budget for it. it's like trying to throw a formal party for $20.Comment by darkelemental1Watch, they are gunna come in and change everything. The Humans will be aliens and the Orcs will be sewer dwelling ninjas with a Tauren sensei. Oh and EXPLOSIONS!Comment by Tanker91112 months* sorry had to fix that, i have a feeling this movie will destroy WoWs image. I myself havnt liked any movies this guys done. And frankly, WoW might be dead already by 2015. Talk about lack luster production. Just like the fabled WoW Dance studio they talked about having for Wrath launch thats been lostComment by 696346This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 269813This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 527469This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 781960but, let's face it, if it stinks, it'll kill the interest of any body looking to purchase & subscribe in the future, as well as make current players reluctant to recruit new game players.Silent Hill and it's sequel was pretty bad compared to the source material. Resident Evil is pure garbage and just shows that most people will eat feces if it's in a shiny wrapper.Comment by AdamsmSorry, but if the Resident Evil movies were bad they wouldn't have made FIVE of them, not including the 2 CGI spinoffs. You're entitled to your opinion regardless of how divergent it is from the majority.Comment by 781960Sorry, but if the Resident Evil movies were bad they wouldn't have made FIVE of them, not including the 2 CGI spinoffs. You're entitled to your opinion regardless of how divergent it is from the majority.Comment by 1036990This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by alyn509I think that it will be a series of movies containing events from the beginning 'till... I don't know... where Blizzard wants to continue with the game, containing all great events from the RPG games ( Medivh's opening the dark portal, Ner'zhul, Doomhammer, Thrall, Arthas becoming Lich king and so on..) and those from WoW too... I can't wait to see what they have in mind with this project...Comment by 470550This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

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