Raimi directing Warcraft movie - confirmed

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Jul 21, 2009 10:19 pm PT

Blizzard, Legendary, and Warner Bros. announce Spider-Man director will helm the long-in-the-works big-screen version of Blizzard's genre-dominating MMORPG.

At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, then-Vivendi Games-owned Blizzard Entertainment revealed a World of Warcraft movie was in the works. Legendary Entertainment, the production company behind The Dark Knight and the in-development Gears of War film, was the company lucky enough to land the project. At BlizzCon the following year, Legendary CEO Thomas Tull announced the film would be a live-action $100 million-budget epic, with a target release date of 2009.

Sam Raimi.

However, as the appointed year began, little had been heard about the World of Warcraft movie--other than it would not be directed by Uwe Boll. Late Tuesday, though, Legendary, Blizzard, and distributor Warner Bros. officially announced the first film set in the Warcraft universe has finally found a director--and it's not Steven Spielberg.

Instead, the filmmaker in question is Sam Raimi, director of the multibillion-dollar-grossing Spider-Man films and the horror cult classics Evil Dead and Army of Darkness. His most recent effort was this year's Drag Me to Hell, a horror thriller that won critical acclaim despite a PG-13 rating and so-so box office returns. The Warcraft film will be produced by Atlas Entertainment's Charles "Chuck" Roven, Legendary's Tull, and Raimi producing partner Joshua Donen. Blizzard Entertainment's senior vice president of creative development Chris Metzen will coproduce.

Interestingly, today's announcement refers to the project as the "major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning Warcraft universe." The term "World of Warcraft" is only mentioned in the footnotes of the release when referring to the "rich fantasy setting" of the game series, which began in 1994 with the real-time strategy game Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. (After being released on the PC, the game arrived on the Mac in 1996.) Currently, World of Warcraft one of those most popular massively multiplayer role-playing games in the world, accruing nearly 12 million subscribers worldwide since its launch in late 2004. No release date for the Warcraft film has yet been announced.

441 Comments

  • 9thedevilmaycry

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 4:04 pm PT

    @shooters125
    next will be warcraft drinks, after that will be warcraft clothing, after that will be warcraft games of every genere, after that warcraft will be more popular than mario, after that kids will be obsessed with warcraft, after that there will be warcraft tv shows, after that there will be warcraft every thing, after that warcraft will be every where, after that 70% of the world will be obsessed with warcraft

  • Johan444

    Posted Sep 22, 2009 9:05 am PT

    Bah, they should do a Warcraft 4 instead of focusing on WOW and some damn movies, I've waited long, just hoping that they would do a Warcraft 4, I know that it's probably not going to happen but as long as you have hope....

  • Darkroux

    Posted Sep 2, 2009 8:30 am PT

    I don't really care for the movie I just hope it doesn't turn out bad like other game movies, cuz warcraft is awesome enough without!

  • shooters125

    Posted Aug 27, 2009 10:25 am PT

    wow warcraft has been in everything books games and now a movie? what will they do next

  • matt_teh_gamuh

    Posted Aug 12, 2009 6:29 pm PT

    and hoyholyhoy.... at least were not EMO BICH

  • matt_teh_gamuh

    Posted Aug 12, 2009 6:27 pm PT

    this is risky, could change opinions of players for better or worse lol

  • Pierce_Sparrow

    Posted Aug 11, 2009 1:36 pm PT

    Hmm, I don't understand it. Most of the fun that came out of the Warcraft series was playing it. The story, at least to me, was always just more of the same fantasy that we've seen before. Sam Raimi is a glimmer of hope, but I can't find anything original that would make this interesting. Now, I'm not a fan of WoW, but I'm not a fan of Halo either, and I would still go see that film. I guess I'm not the best judge, but still, I don't see what's so exciting about a movie based on Warcraft. That, and I doubt the movie would actually be based on WoW, probably the original Warcraft titles.

  • mannatu

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 10:40 am PT

    LoL,not be directed Uwe Boll.That a-hole has done more to ruin video games for movies then any man alive.He should be shot! I bought Orcs vs. Humans when it was released in 1994.Best games ever!Hooray Warcraft movie!Hooray Sam Raimi,The director!Hooray!

  • believa

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 3:30 am PT

    it will most likely only come out late 2035 when the world is about ready to explode anywayz ...

  • zaibutzu

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 10:35 pm PT

    Oh yeah baby. This news rocks!

  • SpeedFreak21

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 8:56 pm PT

    hoyholyhoy wow really? im no fan of wow anymore and havent been since 04 but You are dissing wow's fan base yet you like the ff series? that fan base is far larger and more retarded than wow itself. Congrats to a nerd dissing nerds

  • mat1775

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 2:18 pm PT

    @hoyhoyhoy you have no life cause you just read it yourself

  • En_Sabah_Nur

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 2:17 pm PT

    All I know is, it's a Sam Raimi movie. So Bruce "mother effin' Ash" Campbell is going to be somewhere in it....

  • ThaDirtySouth

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 2:09 pm PT

    Wow has a story?

  • hoyholyhoy posted Jul 30, 2009 1:43 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    hoyholyhoy

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 1:43 pm PT (hide)

    lol wtf is this? hahahaha! im laughing at all you fanboys actually anticipating this movie! milla jovavich! AHAHAHAHAHA!!! she would never do this! Oh my god i'm dying right now this is just to pathetic!

  • TurambarGS

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 8:56 am PT

    I think the original narratives from Warcraft 1 and 2 would be much easier to turn into a movie - even Warcraft 3, at a stretch. However, I think there's simply TOO much stuff going on, too many quests and storylines, in WoW or its expansions, to get a story that would fit in three hours or less.

  • WilHiteWarrior

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 4:22 am PT

    none of the above. Verne Troyer (Minime) as a gnome

  • Shmoe82

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 2:29 am PT

    I hope it based more on the original 2 games more than WOW.

  • menusilect

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:46 pm PT

    Can't waiz

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