Warcraft movie chronicling Rise of the Lich King in 2011?

Source: The ever-popular Internet Movie Database.What we heard: Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe is nothing if not sprawling, thanks to some 15 years of storyline development across games and novels. The developer's expansive narrative tradition offers a plethora of options for the...

Source: The ever-popular Internet Movie Database.

What we heard: Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe is nothing if not sprawling, thanks to some 15 years of storyline development across games and novels. The developer's expansive narrative tradition offers a plethora of options for the upcoming movie set in the Warcraft universe. However, as of August's BlizzCon 2009, director Sam Raimi had not announced any details about what parts of Blizzard lore would be the foundation for his film's script.

Now, though, it appears as if details on the Legendary Pictures-backed production have slipped out, courtesy of popular online movie database IMDB. According to the silver-screen depository, the upcoming Warcraft film now bears the subtitle "The Rise of the Lich King," indicating it will draw from the same source material as 2008's best-selling World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

The Lich King has proven to be fertile source material for Blizzard. Aside from the WOW expansion, the story of the Lich King was handled in Christie Golden's novel Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, which was named to the New York Times' Best-seller list within a week of going on sale earlier this year.

As its title implies, the novel tells an expanded version of the human storyline seen in Blizzard's 2002 real-time strategy game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the Wrath of the Lich King WOW expansion. It sees the benevolent paladin prince Arthas Menethil corrupted by the runeblade Frostmourne and turned into an undead lord of unspeakable evil.

One other point of interest from the IMDB listing, Warcraft: The Rise of the Lich King now bears an expected release date of 2011. As part of BlizzCon 2007, Legendary CEO Thomas Tull said that the film would be live-action with a $100 million budget and would be out by 2009--a release date it obviously missed.

The official story: Blizzard Entertainment had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: While often trusted by industry professionals, IMDB is far from a reliable source, given that information can easily be added to the database without a thorough vetting of the material. As such, bogus that anything is official, though the Lich King storyline does seem to be working out pretty well for Blizzard. The critically hailed expansion sold over 2.8 million copies worldwide in less than 24 hours when it launched last November. As of the end of August, it had sold nearly 2 million units in the US alone.

79 Comments

  • mrcookie44

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 7:28 am PT

    I also think that they should make it in CGI. Take a look at the cutscenes in Diablo 2. Even though they are nearly 10 years old, they still look awesome to this day !

  • odst_trooper117

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 5:48 pm PT

    2011.... hmmm, this will have a hard time going up agianst The Hobbit

  • Syphofighter

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 7:29 am PT

    Something told me it would be about Arthas, I just knew! Dont ask me how! But Arthas didnt really get involved with the horde, so it will be good to see how they are added to his life!

  • NickAnguiano

    Posted Oct 12, 2009 12:21 pm PT

    Not that I think Sam will do a bad job, I just think a WoW movie would probably be at it's best if it was all CGI like Final Fantasy: Advent Children kinda thing, and more importantly.. just done internally by Blizzard. If you don't follow me.. go back and watch some of the introduction videos the WoW games... names Lich King and Burning Crusade. Also some of the patch videos that introduce a new instance or w/e. Blizzard could do an amazing job making a movie completely on their own. Honestly, I dunno how seriously I could take real people running around dressed as elves with fake long ears and revealing armor, someone painted in green from head to toe with tusks glued to their face (a troll), or wise cracking midgets that will just be called a gnome etc. I mean.. didn't they already make a porn movie for that called "whorecraft" or something? lol. Meh... I like WoW and love Blizzard but I will probably remain skeptical until I learn more.

  • Cabal23

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 6:42 am PT

    Maybe one of the Wayan brothers can ruin it.

  • cyborg100000

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:00 pm PT

    "Almost all movie adaptations of video games are untrue to the games they are based on and bad. I expect this to be the same."

    They've got Chris Metzen on the script so it should stay true to the story.

  • not_wanted

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 1:33 pm PT

    2011? So it's going against The Hobbit. This should be interesting.
    They better not screw this one too.

  • djshiivva

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 11:38 am PT

    hell yeah! lich king ftw!

  • skyjack

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 10:49 am PT

    Am i misreading this? Im seeing "rise of the lich king" not wrath. why is everybody acting like its about the expansion? Wouldnt it make more sense to see the original (non arthas) storyline?

  • Shardz7

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 10:28 am PT

    At least they got lucky and got Sam Raimi to direct the project. Poor Max Payne fans got the shaft with a director that never even bothered to go near the game, let alone try to understand what the character of the series was even about.

  • Oni

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 10:28 am PT

    Arthus, a kind and powerful man becomes corrupted by a "dark force" and destroys everything he once fought to protect. I always wondered what Starwars would have been like set in the "Willow/LoTR" Universe. Guess, I'll have to wonder no more. :p

  • borne_god

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 9:41 am PT

    They better not screw this up! All graphics and no motion in the story would be bad!!! Come on Sam Raimi, u can do it!

  • Tatemio

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 8:11 am PT

    Haha yeah thrall better be f*cking awesome

  • Jakirus

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 7:31 am PT

    The Rise of the lich king is the obvious choice, both cinematically and from a marketing point of view. WOTLK was the most hyped up and publicised expansion of all, Cataclysm isn't even getting the publicity WOTLK did. Plus Frozen Throne has pretty much become the set standard of Warcraft 3. So even those who haven't followed the stories of previous games, but at least know OF wow, would be more enticed to see Arthas' story than others (one quite reminiscent of Darth Vader). And it's one I would like to see personally. I just hope that this will not be another disappointment which has now become common of the "game-movie" genre. Saying that, its also an easy sell, a great deal of subscribers are going to see this, and wow has a lot of subscribers. I think I can speak on behalf of all Warcraft fans when i say "Sam...don't screw this up, you have some incredible reference material here, make good use of it"

  • Nina_Pro

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 7:15 am PT

    they should have started with the first war and the burning crusade story line before just jumping to the lich king like that. You know they're gonna make prequels if the wotlk movie does good. and i dont see why it wouldnt. this movie should also have an r rating. wow might have cartoon graphics and cartoon violence, but its a rather violent world right? lets see that get put in the movie

  • Beawolf

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 4:35 am PT

    Thrall better be awesome!

  • blackfray

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 4:20 am PT

    Arthas is my favorite character in Warcraft universe and i think it can be a great start for warcraft movie, besides Blizzard knows what he is doing.I really believe this movie is gonna break the curse of failure in movies based on games.

  • spector000

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 11:24 pm PT

    Hussar83 They should make it animated Beawulf style. It takes less time to make and its as good as anything.
    I agree totally whit that a live movie cant give you all the possibilities a CGI movie can. And lets face it you cant have a Warcraft movie whiteout some truly epic battles and spells and more which cant be done whit stuntmen and real actors. Lets face it its a Might and Magic universe where Warcraft lives.
    LOTR just wasn't convincing for me. But then again it has been many years since LOTR maybe Hollywood could make it work better than it did whit LOTR.

  • kenerhai

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 11:03 pm PT

    Arthas: Rise of the Lich Kings was a great book and I look forward to a WoW movie, but I can't say I'm thrilled to know Sam Raimi is attached. He slaughtered the Spider Man movies, and I'd much rather see him return to Evil Dead or Army of Darkness.

  • LordRaymond

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 10:14 pm PT

    This movie might break the chain of bad adaptations and besides when has Blizzard ever made a bad game.

  • gameking5000

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 10:00 pm PT

    LOL: "Legendary CEO Thomas Tull"

  • UrinalGoonie

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 9:59 pm PT

    OMG its blizzard if they have a say so in any part of this movie its going to be polished and done right. All you doubters blizzard has never done us wrong.

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 9:28 pm PT

    I think it needs to be done all CGI just like the movies in the game. That way it's done faster and we don't have to put up with any horrible acting.

  • hatieshorrer

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 7:21 pm PT

    Almost all movie adaptations of video games are untrue to the games they are based on and bad. I expect this to be the same.

  • DamnedApples

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 7:06 pm PT

    Oh and btw, I'll actually be satisfied if I'm wrong and they make a brand new storyline especially for the movie that's good and has compelling characters...

    Sorry that I'm a tad cynical after seeing the aftermaths of every other videogame-based movie ever made.

  • DamnedApples

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 7:03 pm PT

    hmm 3 thumbs down on my prev post...oh well, let me rephrase. Movie producers should not recycle pre-existing material just because it's popular or has a solid fan-base. I'm not against story-telling in games--at all. Games are about the "interaction". Simply extracting the story out of games is just an insult to all the writers out there who spend lifetimes on complex, original works, when Blizzard the hires some freelance sci-fi author to churn out generic fantasy novels withing a set of parameters. The authors who write the books are usually pretty good (wouldn't be hired if they weren't), but Blizzard reaps the benefits...but whatev, it's your money at the box-office that's going straight to Mr. Blizzers, along with your $15 monthly fees.

    Btw, Blizzard makes good games!

  • brunorr

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 7:03 pm PT

    Stop with WoW, just film the entire Warcraft 3 and it will turn out a killer movie. I'm not into strategy games but played it entirely just to find out what happens. I was impressed how complex the characters were and how they accomplished that only by small cutscenes.

  • 2w-sephiroth

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 6:45 pm PT

    Warcraft has a very interesting story... I cant see it as a succesfull movie at least Blizzard has the last word on what goes on in the movie. Blizzard to recruit a crew of highly capable digital artists, actors and animators and do this in a strongly heavily CG Movie with scanned actors (a la Bewoulf) With top production backgrounds and scenery like the Worlf of Warcraft or Warcraft 3 movie cutscenes and intros them selves. Blizzard has done terrific with this. Why cant THEY do it? and allow holliwood to Destroy it? Anyways good luck with Both Blizzard and Legendary. The only one that either wins or losses is us

  • brian_13un

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 6:27 pm PT

    Hope its CG ^_^

  • justinrscott

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 6:01 pm PT

    The only thing that scares me about this movie is Sam Raimi. Has anyone seen Spiderman 3? He destroyed the franchise with one movie. He did well with the first two, but he destroyed Venom. Is this what he will do to Arthas and Kal'Thuzud? I look forward to the movie, but I am worried.

  • Cwagmire21

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 5:55 pm PT

    Good or bad - this movie will make TONS of money. WoW has such a huge fanbase. Though for it to be good, I can only see it being CG.

  • alkaline_DnB

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 5:41 pm PT

    i'm gonna watch it

  • strayfies

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 5:40 pm PT

    Yeah it could work. I did really enjoy the storyline here, and it would make a cool theatrical experience. Too bad it'll likely be marred by a hammy script and noncommittal actors.

  • SirCrimson

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 5:25 pm PT

    Arthas's story is the only thing I can think of in the Warcraft universe that is actually compelling, not counting Thrall's story. It could work. If they get great unknown actors for Arthas and Jaina, it could be really good actually.

  • dukerav

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 4:33 pm PT

    I'd love to see a movie chronicling the events of Warcraft 1 with subsequent movies leading up to and maybe including in a third movie the Warcraft 3 expansion Frozen Throne. Just please dont set the storyline in any single part of the WoW games. Or possibly a trilogy of War of the Ancients would be nice.

  • RedSoxfan67

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 4:33 pm PT

    lol first possible call of duty films and now a possible warcraft film is hollywood running out of ideas where they need to make game movies yet id say besides the resident evil films the rest of the video game movies are terrible

  • xtremeflem2day

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 4:15 pm PT

    A sure sign that hollywood is just clean out of ideas.

  • jedicommand7

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 4:08 pm PT

    How about the rise of Medivh, the opening of the Dark Portal, and the invasion of Azaroth? I think if a movie is made, there's enough epic story from the first game to create a pretty darn good movie. Especially if you want a massively-appealing movie. Plus that leaves more room for sequels.

  • JrSlacker

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 4:04 pm PT

    @NetherScourge

    I'd have to agree, why not the invasion of the Orcs? Me being Horde I would love to see a movie showing the corruption of Medivh and the destruction of Outland.

  • Stryder_18

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 4:00 pm PT

    I could actually see this working out.

  • DamnedApples

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 3:54 pm PT

    No...this isn't LOTR. If it gets made, it's going to pander to its fan-base, b/c let's face it--is the "story" of Warcraft really that much more compelling than the aisles of fantasy novels that occupy the shelves of borders and libraries? Warcraft is a game...not a fantasy epic. It will get a movie made because of its game's fanbase, not its merit. But who cares right? All we want in a film is a CGI sploog-fest with no depth, right? WC is a good GAME. I think pooyanh has got the right idea.

  • Tripwolf

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 3:41 pm PT

    Awesome!

  • pooyanh

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 3:30 pm PT

    Who cares about movies? I want Warcraft IV.

  • Netherscourge

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 3:12 pm PT

    Oh come on! We already saw him "rise" in Warcraft III. Then AGAIN in WOrld of Warcraft flashbacks... AND Christie's book!

    How many more time do we need to hear the SAME STORY?!!?! Why not tell the story of THRALL? His rise to power is much more interesting IMO.

  • FoxExecutive

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 3:03 pm PT

    There is so much lore to WOW you can make a decent movie out of almost anything, that is if you try to make a good movie. The real problem I see here is that WOW has so much lore, that trying to piece together a coherent story about Arthas will leave other important plot points out.

  • HuSSaR83

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 2:58 pm PT

    They should make it animated Beawulf style. It takes less time to make and its as good as anything.

  • MammothTusk

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 2:51 pm PT

    Allthough Arthas is a pretty lame character if you compare his to his fellow warcraft-heroes. Why don't they make several movies? ^^

  • rusky4ever

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 2:42 pm PT

    im also happy that they changed the movie plot because the current one is soo much better.

  • rusky4ever

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 2:41 pm PT

    there is nothing wrong with the game graphics. its the warcraft style and its perfect for the game. also some games with super uber graphics (conan) failed miserably.

  • earlthecannibal posted Oct 7, 2009 2:31 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    earlthecannibal

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 2:31 pm PT (hide)

    I wonder if the movie will have 1999 graphics like the game does?

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