We reported earlier this month that the proposed World of Warcraft movie was going to be titled Warcraft and revolve around the story of Arthus as the tragic hero turned villain, but as much as that made sense, Sam Raimi himself announced that Saving Private Ryan writer Robert Rodat will be lifting pen to an original story within the mythos.
“We want to be really faithful to the game,” Raimi said. “We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a ‘World of Warcraft’ adventure. We would choose something that encompasses lands and characters and storylines, and we would be true to it. But our story may or may not be about one of those central characters.”
“He continued: [The goal is to capture] the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents. I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.”
I would actually prefer that they do Arthus’ story and his rise to the Lich King of the Frozen Throne. But they are presumably going with a new story.
I think this is potentially a very bad direction to go as there is already >tons and tons and tons of Lore in the game already including the epic struggle played out in Warcraft 3 and its Expansion right down to the slightest detail of a pair of children standing on the end of a dock in an Alliance camp.
With 11 Million people playing this game already, and a broader market that would likely take in an epic fantasy film regardless of its source material, why not go deeper into an existing story instead of trying to find something new that will not contribute to the game as a whole.
Time will tell if they can manage a unique story that doesn’t contradict with the existing cannon. If they just go non-cannon, then why call it Warcraft?
