Untitled Warcraft Project

By: Karl Schneider
Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Last Updated: August 16, 2006

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Production Company: Blizzard Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures
Project Phase: Optioned Property
Budget: NA
Who's In It: NA
Who's Making It: Chris Metzen (Story)
Release Date: NA
Premise: An epic fantasy/adventure based on the popular video game series.
Comments: Blizzard's games have won multiple Game of the Year awards and constantly break sales records upon release. They are very meticulous with their property and, for now, I have high hopes that this film won't go the way of other game adaptions have.
Updates:

May 10, 2006 - Some interesting quotes from Blizzard COO Paul Sams regarding the upcoming movie, "We and Legendary want to make a great film, an event picture, big-budget picture, that is a great stand-alone, fantasy-based movie that is good for you regardless of whether you're familiar with the Warcraft universe."

"We haven't brought forth what the story is going to be. We're still fleshing that out. It's in development. There's a handful of screenwriters we've been evaluating together with Legendary, and with Warner. There's a list of people we're all evaluating, that we look at their track record and say, OK, these are people that we should explore, should talk to, we should see what their take is. There's one in particular that's probably in the lead right now, and so we're working on a take together with them. Blizzard is very much involved, Chris Metzen, our vp of creative development, is intimately involved in that.

When asked for an example of the type of film they have in mind, Sams answered BRAVEHEART.

May 10, 2006 - A live-action film based on Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe is will be brought to the big screen by Legendary Pictures.

"We searched for a very long time to find the right studio for developing a movie based on one of our game universes," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "Many companies approached us in the past, but it wasn't until we met with Legendary Pictures that we felt we'd found the perfect partner. They clearly share our high standards for creative development, and because they understand the vision that we've always strived for with our Warcraft games, we feel there isn't a better studio out there for bringing the Warcraft story to film."


More details regarding the upcoming movie, including director, cast, and various dates is expected to be revealed in the coming months.

There has been no mention thus far regarding what plot line the game would follow, though the press release did say the following:

"It's not always the case that interactive game properties lend themselves to proper adaptation to film," said Jon Jashni, Legendary Pictures' chief creative officer. "We are intending to approach this as we would the adaptation of a best-selling novel: respect the essence of all that it is but also build upon that fertile base while translating it into a new medium."