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Who's going to be monitoring Sam Raimi's Warcraft film
Now that news has broken that Sam Raimi will direct a movie based on the MMORPG World of Warcraft, executives at Blizzard tell SCI FI Wire that they'll keep a close eye on the movie's development.
"Even before we signed with Legendary in the last couple of years, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we were going to do a movie and how we would be able to maintain the level of involvement that was important to us, because if you don't have enough involvement, ... there's no guarantee that the production company that's making your movie is going to appropriately honor your intellectual property," Blizzard vice president Frank Pearce said in an exclusive interview at Blizzcon last week. "And our intellectual property is our lifeblood."
I asked him what he, and Blizzard as a whole, would like to see in the story. "That's really going to be something that Sam and whatever screenwriter we choose decide," Pearce said. "For me, telling a story in two to three hours is going to be different from the books that we have or the story in the game. It's a big universe, and we can tell almost any story we want. ... I would personally like to see some cool character development for some of the really important figures in the game. I always look at the Warcraft universe, and there's good and evil and there's right and wrong. I love how the Warcraft universe really sort of borders that between the Alliance and the Horde. Depending on how you look at things, who's good and who's bad, it's gray. And that's cool."
Blizzard chief executive Michael Morhaime said that the topic of a WoW movie came up with Raimi at last year's Blizzcon (the filmmaker plays World of Warcraft with his son and his buddies and was at the convention). "While we were talking to him, the topic of the Warcraft movie came up," Morhaime said. "And he expressed interest in talking about it some more. ... We were struck by his passion for the Warcraft universe."
Morhaime added, "Between Sam's incredible talent, the support of Legendary Pictures and the involvement of Dark Knight producer Chuck Roven, we are confident the movie is in the best possible hands."
Morhaime even addressed an Internet suggestion about what Raimi's direction might mean for a certain famous WoW YouTube character. "This doesn't mean that Bruce Campbell will be playing Leeroy Jenkins," he said. "But now that I think about it, that's not a bad idea."
By divephotog at 4:17 AM ON 08/25/09
Ah yes... yet another unmoving movie based on a video game, in which we can see Ted Raimi making an appearance (only time he get's work is when his Sam gets it for him!) and some real acting again for Bruce Campbell, who is not bad in Burn Notice, but this is kinda out of his age league...
I can wait for it to be the Saturday night feature on SyFy (sissified tv).-KH
By fistoflegend at 5:31 AM ON 08/25/09
To be honest sam could skipe this and give me evil dead 4. G;ad to see that the creators of wow want to be involved in it and make certain it will not suck.
By kev74 at 6:22 AM ON 08/25/09
I think a CGI Warcraft movie would work out so much better than live action IMO.
By Truthbetold at 8:09 AM ON 08/25/09
Agree with Kev. The WOW Cinematic trailers are quite well done and a full lenght movie or movies would be a better fit that a Marvel-esque RL/CGI movie. IMHO.
By MaryAnnMc254 at 8:30 AM ON 08/25/09
I love the idea of a Warcraft movie - as the creators said, there are so many wonderful stories to tell. However, I do wish that it would be animated with the same quality as their cinematics rather than live action -- both because it would give the Warcraft people total control, and because I am really not looking forward to having a Warcraft movie flavored by the feeling of Xena and Hercules.
By LotR at 10:17 AM ON 08/25/09
Ok, just hire Peter Jackson already and make it as epic and large as LoTR. This has potential people, it has great potential. There is enough rich back story in Warcraft for it to be the next LoTR, but what is needed is 1) amazing acting 2) clear good Vs Evil plot line 3) Amazing Directing 4) rich, clear delving into the universe that is Warcraft. A trilogy wouldn't hurt either...
By advocate at 11:22 AM ON 08/25/09
Ummm World of Warcraft sucks, what makes you think a movie will be any better? Just make sure they have some irritating 10 year old off camera screaming and making dumb chuck norris jokes or runninf around naked and screaming, so we are unable to immerse ourselves in the movie....Then it would be exactly like the game.
By Kryche at 1:41 PM ON 08/25/09
I agree that Warcraft is a pretty lousy IP. There are sooo many other fantasy IPs that would make for better movies (and video games).
I probably wouldn't even bother watching this on Saturday night Syfy. :p
But hey, good for the WoW fanbase and Blizzard. But god, even the new BSG movie will be better than this turd.
By Yeoman at 4:12 PM ON 08/25/09
I think by now everyone should be screaming "OMG! enuf with the game movies! Seriously, stop it!"
There was not one, not a single one good movie based on a game. And it is so for a reason. (and it's not necesserily bad director/actors).
I think the whole idea of making a game based movie is just flawed.
First of all: games, as a medium, are even further away from the movies than books. You want make an interactive movie, you won't incorporate gameplay. Period. All you can do is adapt the games script (and only on a very general level) or invent a new one and place it in the setting.
So we basicly take "the lore" and turn it into a movie and add some homage scenes so ppl will remeber that this is a game based movie. And it's cool but what's the point? Why make a Max Payne movie, when the game itself was something of a homage and a tribute payed to film noir and crime drama generally. Isn't it a bit of a step back?
We have lots of great crime/noir movies but not so much similiar games. That's what makes Max Payne awesome.
Plus, some things that look good or maybe even passable in game will look ULTRA crappy in a movie (just imagine protagonist running around in T6)
I think Warcraft will suck, but i HOPE it will not, but tbh i'd rather have actors do emotes and shout PRIEST LFP!!! or #$%#% GANKERS! NOOBS!
Oh and I'm 100% sure that at some point in the movie there will be an orc (or undead) that will say "kek". I can bet all my money on that...
By allison&jack at 4:55 PM ON 08/25/09
Perhaps if game stories weren't just cliched ripoffs of books and movies with worse writing, they would translate better into movies.
But as the above poster said, why make a movie based on a game that ripped it's "lore" off from other movies, books and games?
Games are the absolute worst medium for telling a story. Just like movies are the absolute worst medium for gameplay. Even those old choose your own adventure books were more fun than an "interactive" movie.
By Mylaya at 5:57 PM ON 08/25/09
Please stop giving Raimi work, especially on big budget movies. In Spiderman, Raimi ruined it by adding that cheesy drama and slap stick humor that makes me feel embarrassed for the actors that are in his movies. He ruined one of my favorite collection of books with Legend of the Seeker by changing the story and using his same comedic styles. Now he's going to take on one of the most beloved MMORPG's of all time? Who the heck keeps getting this guy work? Stop!! Please STOP!!!! Aside from a few episodes of Xena (the dramatic ones) & Evil Dead, he ruins everything he touches! Go back to what you know! Hands off our MMORPG!
By Captain Pierce at 11:28 PM ON 08/25/09
You know, if the Sam Raimi who directed Army of Darkness was still with us, I could get enthused about his movie, because that guy could have gone totally crazy with Warcraft; and given how many jokes Blizzard has planted in the WoW that refer to other fantasy and SF properties, I could see a lot of potential there.
Unfortunately, I think that the Sam Raimi who made the Spiderman movies probably had to kill the Sam Raimi who made Army of Darkness, so I can only assume that this movie will suck just as many balls as the Spiderman movies did.
BTW, Bruce Campbell is good in ANYTHING; and just for the record, Ted Raimi was pretty good in SeaQuest DSV. :)
By Advocate at 2:15 AM ON 08/26/09
The most beloved MMORPG's of all time?
(throws up in his mouth a little bit)
By Peckster at 2:55 AM ON 08/26/09
With 11.5 million addicts (er, subscribers) worldwide, the marketers would have gotten this movie made anyway. Even if WOW isn't the "most beloved", it's by far the most popular. I have to agree, though, to date no movie made from a game has been worthwhile - "Wing Commander" sadly leaps to mind.
By Andreas at 10:55 AM ON 08/26/09
WoW is certainly the most popular MMORPG by far.
To all of you saying "WoW sucks", I think you should humbly add "in my opinion" to your posts. Suckage is subjective. My opinion is different. Your results may vary.
Having played WoW off and on since it came out, I still enjoy it. No game other than Starcraft and the Civilization series has even come close to holding my interest as long as WoW. In other words, I unapologetically like it. But it's not for everyone. It is not really geared towards the archetypal hardcore gamer.
Will it be a good movie? I personally doubt it. But it could be? There is certainly enough space in the WoW universe for many, many good stories.
As for good video game movies, there was the "Chronicles of Riddick" movie. Hang on, that was a movie first... ;)
By ETo at 12:00 PM ON 08/26/09
"Suckage" is a universal constant, and WoW most definitely sucks hard! Starcraft could be a sweet movie though.
By allison&jack at 12:01 PM ON 08/26/09
Just because something is popular doesn't mean its quality.
Case in point, McDonalds. It's loved around the world, but no one in their right mind would ever call it a 5 star meal.
Just like everything else in pop culture WoW is a homoginized product design to appeal to the largest audience possible, which means it'll never be anything more than mediocre.,
Blizzard took a niche formula, dumb it down to appeal to the lowest common denominator, polished the hell out of it, and put it on the market to great success. Great for Blizzard, and the lowest common denominator, not so great for anyone who has any appreciation for the genre and real virtual worlds, something Blizzard has had disdain for since the days of EQ and Ultima Online. It's like how Syfy is homogenizing and dumbing down scifi in the hope of attracting the masses.
WoW might be the most popular MMO ever made, but it's certainly not the best. Kinda like how Warehouse 13 is Syfys most popular show to date, but no where near the level of BSG or Farscape.
By ETo at 12:12 PM ON 08/26/09
To allison&jack:
Right on! On both points, homogeneous mixtures of sci-fi and fantasy are bad for the brain.
Visit mobile.syfy.com/wire on your mobile device.
ETo:
To allison&jack: Right on! On both points, homogeneous mixtures of sci-fi and fantasy are bad for the brain....More »