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[The Fallen Angel]

Credit: IGN

New Details: Warcraft Movie
Blizzard and Legendary Pictures let loose.
by Charles Onyett

August 4, 2007 - Blizzard has been going to Hollywood for years trying to pitch movies for years, but kept getting turned away with the notion that fantasy pictures just wouldn't work. Blizzard's Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams said as much during a panel today at BlizzCon 2007. That was, until they met up with Legendary Pictures, the studio that produced Batman Begins and 300. Chris Metzen, Blizzard's Chief Creative Officer, and Thomas Tull, head of Legendary Pictures, were also on stage to provide additional insights.

As of now, the Warcraft film is set for a 2009 release. The budget is upwards of 100 million USD, and it will be a live action film, likely with a mix of digital effects. To what extent such effect will be used depends largely on the director, who has yet to be named. Legendary and Blizzard are hoping to find someone of Zack Snyder caliber, the man who directed 300. No actors were named, something that will also have to wait until a director is chosen.

Metzen went on to describe the story, though very vaguely. Originally Blizzard wanted it to be set in the universe of the first RTS Warcraft game with a basic Orcs versus Humans storyline. That was scrapped because of notions that it may be too similar to Lord of the Rings, and that Blizzard felt the Warcraft name has reached its current level of popularity with its MMO, World of Warcraft, as opposed to the RTS games from before, which include three Warcraft titles and various expansion packs. As it stands, the story will incorporate a series of major events from about one year before World of Warcraft, and will be principally told from the perspective of the Alliance.

An early glimpse of what to expect.The movie will be two to two and a half hours long, and both Legendary and Blizzard want it to have an epic action kind of feel. Tull pointed out the film would blend elements from other big action titles like Gladiator, 300, and Braveheart. According to Metzen, the movie won't be a journey type of tale, like in Lord of the Rings. Instead, it will focus more on growing tensions between the races of the World of Warcraft universe and eventually culminate with some kind of battle. Character likely to make an appearance include Bolvar Fordragon, Thrall, and Cairne Bloodhoof. Arthas, a famous character from Warcraft 3, will more than likely not be in the film.

As far as MPAA ratings go, Legendary can't really say what the film will draw, as they still don't have a director, but Metzen was quick to point out, "it's warcraft, it's not pillow-fight craft." At the end of the Q&A session, they briefly showed a storyboard image from the movie, a view at dusk of the mammoth tree, Teldrassil, which will likely serve as a setting in the movie.