Sam Raimi Is Directing “World Of Warcraft” Movie

Yes you read that title right… and no I’m not kidding. The one video game that I’ve always thought had a chance at becoming a half decent movie is indeed finally coming to the big screen. “Warcraft” is in development and none other than Sam Raimi has signed on to direct it.

The folks over at Variety give us this:

Sam Raimi has signed on to direct “Warcraft,” the live-action film adaptation of the fantasy videogame franchise “World of Warcraft.”

Legendary Pictures and vidgame publisher Blizzard Entertainment are mounting the film, and Warner Bros. will co-finance and distribute. The team boasts an impressive pedigree: In addition to the director of “Spider-Man,” the partners have added “The Dark Knight” producer Charles Roven to the creative mix.

The plan is for Raimi to supervise development of “Warcraft” and shoot the picture after he completes work on “Spider-Man 4,” which gets under way early next year for Columbia Pictures.

The movie will be financed under the Legendary Pictures’ co-production and co-financing deal with WB, in a manner similar to the Todd Phillips-directed “The Hangover” plus the Roven-produced “Batman Begins” and “Dark Knight.”

I am beside myself with excitement! Raimi is a fantastic choice for a project like this one and I think will do the film great justice!

Excuse me now… I’ve gotta go level up my Undead Mage!

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67 thoughts on “Sam Raimi Is Directing “World Of Warcraft” Movie

  1. Gary Whitta (screenwriter [Futurama episodes, Book of Eli, Live action Akira], author and game designer) has revealed that over the past two years he has been fervently working, in secret, on the World of Warcraft movie adaptation. However, since Raimi has come on board, the film’s direction has changed and Whitta is no longer involved.

  2. I strongly disagree in thinking Raimi will do a good job. He is only good at cheesy, campy, and corny films. WarCraft should be made via Bewoulf style with Zemeckis helming it.

  3. Generally I look down on movies made from games but I always thought that a movie based on WoW wold be good. i wonder which expansion will be made into a movie – The Wrath of the Lich King, perhaps? I’m still impressed with that trailer!

  4. I’m not big on this decision but I can get proven wrong. I mean Spider-Man 2 was pretty awesome!

    The one thing that bothers me is, can he pull off the big epic fights that made WoW so big.

  5. weel holy shit another excuse for raimi to not make evil dead 4! Fuck you Sam!

    gah now that my anger is released, this sounds cool and cant wait to see some development on it

  6. People that play the game full time say this is a film that should never be made because u cant ever show what the game truly is. I think it could be good.

    1. And they should try to show what the game truly is. It’s a game and this is a movie.

      They are taking WarCraft’s rich story lines and making a movie out of it, not trying to make a movie out of a game. Man WoW fans can be real stupid sometimes.

      Blizzard themselves shows you that the story is just part of the game play. When you see there beautifully jaw dropping cinematics, mostly those from WarCraft 3, plus all the novels and so forth, you see that the WarCraft story is too freaking huge to just be told threw a game, even to big for the biggest MMO ever made.

  7. I don’t see how this game has anywhere close to be the best potential this game had the weakest story out of any game I played Why after a week I was done playing it I need a grate story to love it.

    If any game has a chance to be the best it is Metal Gear Solid grate characters grate story.

    But hey I only played WOW for a week other than that I know jack shit about the universe. But it did not get me hooked at all so I just don’t know.

  8. I want to be excited, I really do. My only real obstacle is Spiderman 3. I really hated that movie. It was an abomination, and I don’t expect Spiderman 4 to be any better.
    Even with such rich source material, I am not excited about it being in his hands after that last movie. I just can’t get emo spidy out of my head!

    1. I agree with you about Spider-Man 4. I have no desire to see it after the 3rd. It’s taken them 2 years just to write it (Course he did have Drag Me To Hell to direct). I’ll probably see the 4th but It’ll probably be bad

  9. This is just flat out awesome, I think this is a fantastic fit. Plus he already had his heart set on doing the Hobbit movie(s) before Guillermo del Toro got the gig instead. Which is why I think he really wanted to do this one, he just wants to make a good epic fantasy movie already! ;p

    I was rooting for him to do the Hobbit too, oh well, now he has another chance to prove he can do it.

    I can’t wait, this is a huge dream come true for me. Mostly because this movie is FINALLY getting under way. I’ve been a huge WarCraft fan since the original back in the day and my love for everything WarCraft has grown immensely. And Sam Raimi directing this is like the huge shimmering Tree of Life on top. ;p

    WOOT!

    1. I can see Raimi doing the Hobbit, that would be awesome, but I’m glad it’s Del Toro. Their both awesome fits but Guillermo is the better Hobbit fit IMO

  10. Sounds AWESOME! I could’ve sworn they already made an animated WOW film last year or something. Raimi’s got a lot on his plate…Spider-Man 4 (I predict that will suck), and now World Of Warcraft. Sounds like no Evil Dead 4 for awhile…:(

  11. BeautifulMess, It wouldn’t. Sorry. But,hey what about Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out? He did a great job in “The Hangover.” Or Pac-Man-The Motion Picture? Kevin James – Paul Blart himself, could be our favorite, yellow swallower…..that sounds a lot worse than it is.(or better, I guess, depending on your view)

  12. Ya I heard that last night. Its amazing news. Maybe the film will be good now. I’be been scared they would have a half baked scripted and a bad director, but this just good news. By the way John, you should go Alliance. I’m just saying.

  13. Don’t really get whats the big deal with this. They say world of warcraft instead of just warcraft purely for the fanbase. It’ll be a movie in the warcraft universe, there are lots of other lores equally good. Seems there are competent people involved with this so it might be good.

    1. No, they say World of Warcraft because that game takes place in a certain part of history in the Warcraft franchise.

      WoW takes place years after Warcraft3. It is important to differentiate the game title to imply when the movie might take place. Not just to pander to the fanbase.

  14. I think they should just let Blizzard do the movie in CGI, most of their stuff looks amazing, obviously a 90 minute film is a little diffrent but still.

    1. Ya, I’d like to see it be CGI too. Blizzard is like ILM when it comes to video game cinematics. Infact they created a hair rendering program back during the creation of WC3 that revolutionized hair rendering in GCI forever.

      They’ve said before that they would love to do an all CGI movie years ago. Oh well I guess.

    2. You know, I always thought that about the Final Fantasy games, that Squaresoft really should make a CGI movie since their graphics are absolutely astounding. Unfortunately I got what I wanted with the release of Final Fantasy the Spirits Within. If I remember correctly, the crippling cost of making that game brought Squaresoft to it’s knees so that they had to merge with Enix. Since then I don’t entirely trust game companies.

      Maybe Blizzard would do better though. I heard they scrapped a game that had been in development for many years and had cost a fortune just because it was not good enough for the Blizzard name. They do have very high quality control. Still, considering the precedent, I would not consider it a wise business plan.

    3. Yup, it was StarCraft: Ghost that they canceled. The game looked great and was a different take on there usual games, plus it was an all console game. But like you said, it just wasn’t up to Blizzard’s high standards.

      There was also a WarCraft game they made with another company years ago, it to got canned cuz they didn’t think it was good enough.

      There is a reason why Blizzard has yet to sell a game that hasn’t sold like gang busters and formed millions of devoted fans over it’s many years as a company. Both because of great game play and wonderful stories.

  15. You know what, im super excited about this. Not only because im a WoW fan, but because im a fan of the sword and sandle, fantasy type genre. There havnt been too many of those being made lately so I cant wait for this.

  16. So am I the only one that knows theyre going to fuck this up? Its a world of warcraft movie.

    I mean, i see them making a videogame movie like Hitman or Resident Evil (which sucked by the way)because those videogames ARE a little like movies when you play them, but MMORPGs like WoW just dont seem like the type to make a movie for

    All those online international videogames like Runescape should be kept away from movies.

    I mean hopefully this turns out good, i just dont see how theyll make a MMORPG into a good movie. Theres professional writters though, im sure they can come up with somehting cool.

    1. I’m not so sure they’re going to go along the ‘world of warcraft’ route and make it like a ‘story about some adventurer, and his quest to raid dungeons!’, but instead make it a ‘war movie’…seeing as thats what warcraft is really all about.

      I’m seeing epic battles, a story similar to one on Warcraft 3, and lots of sexy half-naked elf-women.

    2. There is a LOT more lore to the World in which Warcraft exists, and gives a LOT of options for a full fleshed out story.

      The Lore of Warcraft is deeper than any other franchise out there. The RTS alone has scads of storyline waiting to be explored, which only feed directly into World of Warcraft (which picks up chronologically years after Warcraft3’s storyarc ends)

    3. It’s not going to be that hard at all. Yes other MMORPGs have just a little lore to go by and most of those companies make the game first and then write the story around it.

      Blizzard already had ALLOT to build WoW’s story off of when they first started making it and it was lore driven ALL the way. WoW’s lore is really well done and nothing short of an hugely epic story that more then deserves to be made into a live action, big budget film. Plus there’s tones of novels, comic books, and so much more to go on. All of which are filled with rich and enduring characters, in fact some of the best ever.

      But last I heard the story of the movie is going to be an original one that takes place between WC3 and WoW. Either way, making this movie’s story truly amazing, should not be hard at all.

  17. hmm, the first information about that movie I heard was about 1 year ago and it was saying “we want to make a WAR movie, not a fantasy movie”.
    So I was thinking of something more serious than Sam Raimi Popcorn (Action + Romance + Humor + Tragedy = Family FUN) flick.

    I have to say, I am a bit disapointed.

    1. No, I’m pretty sure Sam will stay true to the source material. The Spider-Man movies are “family fun flicks” because the comic books are also kid friendly and meant to be that way, believe it or not…

    2. Plus the WarCraft series is only a teen rated game series, so I’m not sure how much blood and gore you were expecting out of this, it’s by far not going to be like 300.

      I’m sure it wont be anymore bloody then the Lord of the Rings movies.

    1. Hey Victor,

      It very specifically says in the press release:

      “Sam Raimi has signed on to direct “Warcraft,” the live-action film adaptation of the fantasy videogame franchise “World of Warcraft.” “

    2. Well, unless they changed it, which is a good possibility since Sam is now on board, it’s actually kind of both. ;p

      They said a while back that the story takes place somewhere between the WarCraft3 and World of Warcraft story lines.

    3. Unfortunately the first hour and 45 minutes are spend grinding for an hour, then he goes to the auction house for 15 minutes before turning in the quest to level, to be continued.

  18. Wow! This is really good, but this is the kind of movie I’d expect Peter Jackson to direct

    P.S. why aren’t new stories being created for the big-screen? especially in the si-fi & fantasy genre; every new movie is a derivative/adaptation of a novel, comic, videogame or a reboot/remake. Why do u think StarWars is so successful?

    1. Um, StarWars was not an original either, is you have ever read this thing called the bible. it is loosely base on jesus and the Virgin birth. Not that i’m saying i hate StarWars the original 3 are my fave of all time. but everything has to come from somewhere hollywood is just in the re-make trend for the recession. Why risk money when you know that proved stuff is going to make you big bucks.

    2. Aaron, aside from that principal that the medichlorians gave Shmi a virgin birth there is NO other comparison to the bible. Seriously, have YOU read it? Its nothing like Star Wars.

      Star Wars was original (clearly drawing from other sources for inspiration) but it is its own thing.

      DPencil, for every remake/adaptation in Hollywood there are hundreds of original script films out there being produced.

    3. That thing called the bible was also an adaption made into a collection of previous stories. so for more than a couple thousand years people have been reusing the same story over and over. I hate hollywood, unoriginal bastards-but I can’t stop watching the movies, they are just so good and full of flavor.

      I forgot who said it,or if anyone said it, but there are really only, is it seven or eight original “Plots”??? and all stories come from those? did I get it right? I don’t think I was really coherent in class that day.

    4. I think StarWars influence is much more recent that the bible. Probably more the Hidden Fortress and many other “recent” films. The Bible itself is a rip off of earlier legends and literatures anyway. So the source material is not really a huge factor, its what they do with it. Blizzard and Bioware are the top 2 video game companies making games that can translate well into movies. Their games are rich with mythology and leaves a lot of room for creativity. Though there are awesome cinematic segments in their games already but they are short and sweet. Final Fantasy like RPGs are too filled with plot and movies already, others like the Clancy games, assassins creed, MGS also leaves less room for adaptation.

      Sam is an OK choice, i just hope there are not too much slapstick in this. WOW is NOT Xena, or Army of Darkness. And Raimi can really lay on the cheese pretty thick sometimes.

    5. I believe it’s eleven possible plots, not “original”. And concerning Star Wars, ever heard of a very old book called, “Revolt In 2100”? Released in the fifties, I believe. There are starship battles, guys that can influence other people’s minds with a wave of their hands, and laserguns called “blasters”.

      Also, one of the characters is a doctor on a ship. His name is McCoy.

    6. “The Bible itself is a rip off of earlier legends and literatures anyway.”

      People do keep saying that, but for whatever reason I know not.

      It’s true that missionaries have been finding colonies for years with legends that appear to be almost identical to Bible stories. But that’s just almost evidence for the opposite view; that these people have distorted these stories over time, being completely cut off from the rest of the world. That, more than anything, would make far more sense.

      Besides, The Bible is a gigantic volume spanning centuries and containing every known kind of literature to man. Where else has that been done? Also, The Bible constantly backs up it’s stories with context and a detailed timeline. In contrast, similar legends that it may appear that the Bible has ripped off of are vague and unclear.

    7. @Rodney:

      I recall having a book by a theologian author named Frank Alnutt called “Force Of Star Wars”. When I got it as a young kid, I thought it was a Star Wars book. As I read it on the road trip, I found out that the book drew several subjective comparisons to A New Hope and events of the bible. Despite the other films coming out and de-railing most of the entire hypothosis (Darth Vader/ “Dark Invader”=fall from grace=Devil) it’s still interesting. It had some nice B&W still pix from the film too. I still have the paperback…because it is an interesting subjective view, and, for the time, valid.

      That said…

      @Aaron

      Lucas threw in the Bible, and eastern religions, (including Buddhism) to roll it into one – “the Force”. This is also one aspect of the Star Wars universe. There is also motifs from past literature and classic films. We all know Lucas had those influences.

      It isn’t uncommon for filmmakers to borrow, be influenced by or tip the hat to films and literature of days before. Some may incorporate their views on religion or politics. But I fail to see where Lucas “remade” the New Testament. Also, Lucasfilm put up the risk money on a product they own.

    8. Rodney,

      Thanks for clearing that up, i was just trying to point out there are alot of thing that are not original no matter how you look at them. I love StarWars and im glad that we here all love it too.

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