Let’s take a first look at what is happening “under the hood” of the first Warcraft movie. Many of the outline details are now available, so let’s see what we can expect.

It will be directed by Sam Raimi. This is good news. Sam has great directorial experience on films such as Evil Dead and Scream, not to mention the first three Spider Man movies. The Hollywood rumour mill has it that Sam is keen to keep to the existing lore and outline of Warcraft. Something that can’t be said for many film tie-ins who immediately alienate the audience by breaking the whole Lore of the product they are based on. Good news then.

It is being written by Robert Rodat, He of “Saving Private Ryan” fame. Looking through Robert’s resume, it seems that action will play a very large part in the movie. However expect some pretty moving personal moments as well. Ryan was a rollercoaster of emotions. Fear and frustration (the stabbing scene while his buddy whimpered on the stairs still drives me mad today).

Back down under, the rugged landscape of New Zealand is being cited as the most likely location for the outdoor scenes. I like this idea as well. There is enough scope and variation there. I can picture an “Azerothian” landscape quite easily.

Drum your fingers and tap your toes. It’s going to be quite a wait. Although films of this type can be put together in two years, expect three years as a minimum from now (so 2013 most likely) I would like to bet that it is released to tie in with the expansion after Cataclysm – possibly with some plot overlap between the film and the game. That’s just my guess, but you heard it here first. Lore is an important part of Warcraft, and has been since Warcraft 2. The film will almost certainly stay true to existing lore, but may look to advance it in certain areas. That was, after all, one of the stipulations of the licence.

With the director and writer in place we can expect an action based movie to be the result. LotR was a quest movie with action in it. Warcraft will be an action movie with some quest and plot advancement in it. That’s speculation for now, but with the pedigree of the writer and director (not to mention the production company) it seems far more likely that we will see a lot of hack and slash (and whizz and puff for the magic users out there)

So far no names have been mooted for the leading role (or roles). It is unlikely that the film’s producers have even got around to deciding themselves yet

On that note, perhaps the best news as far as I’m concerned is that the production company is Legendary Pictures (Batman Begins, 300) With a pedigree like that I expect to be blown away by the new Warcraft movie.

This site is up and running again now, and we look forward to bringing you all the latest and best in Warcraft news in the coming months. See you soon.

Discuss the latest with other Warcraft fans @ The Warcraft Blog We offer the best professional, downloadable Free Warcraft Guides as well. Free guides. Now that’s got to be a good thing!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,