Blizzard rejected first planned Warcraft movie by Sam Raimi

[BenBos]

For anyone curious why the Warcraft movie is taking so long ....

Source: Vulture http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/sam-r...ever-made.html

"Evil Dead and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi may be enjoying critical success for his upcoming film Oz: The Great and Powerful, but many may recall that prior to Oz, Raimi was attached to direct a Warcraft movie until the project fell through. Today, while promoting his upcoming film, Raimi shared a little insight onto why the Warcraft film never happened.

"First, they asked me if I wanted to make it, and I said, 'Yes, I love World of Warcraft, and I think it would make a great picture,'" said Raimi in an interview with Vulture. "So I read a screenplay they had that was written by the guys at [Warcraft developer] Blizzard, and it didn't quite work for me. I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert, so we pitched it to Legendary and they accepted it, and then we pitched it to Blizzard, and they had reservations, but they accepted it."

"Then Robert [Rodat] wrote the screenplay, and only once he was done did we realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn't know that. And they had never quite approved the original story we pitched them. Those reservations were their way of saying, 'We don't approve this story, and we want to go a different way,' so after we had spent nine months working on this thing, we basically had to start over. And Robert did start over, but it was taking too long for the people at Blizzard, and their patience ran out. Honestly, I think it was mismanagement on their behalf, not to explain to us that the first story was vetoed long ago. Why did they let us keep working on it? Were they afraid to tell me?"

While I understand and agree with some Raimi's frustrations, I'm glad Blizzard were able to stick to their guns, as too many game-to-film adaptations sideline the original creators in the production process.

Recently, it was revealed that Moon and Source Code director Duncan Jones had been selected to take the Warcraft helm, and Raimi praised the decision.

"I loved his movie Moon, and I think he's a strikingly talented director. I bet that if anyone can do a great job with it, it's him"


Apparently Blizzard wants to have full control (Metzen ?)

[yurano]

If the Warcraft movie could be anything like the MoP opening cinematic, it will be an epic movie.

[Rarespawn2012]

good, after spiderman 3, I don't want Raimi with free range

[Fagatronics]

This sounds like Blizz. Taking forever to make something that has an inordinant amount of buzz around it but when it finally comes out it never lives up to the insane expectations created over the many years.

diablo 3

[BenBos]

This sounds like Blizz. Taking forever to make something that has an inordinant amount of buzz around it but when it finally comes out it never lives up to the insane expectations created over the many years.

diablo 3

Opinion. D3 cured me from my WOW addiction. I play D3 every day and after patches 1.03, 1.04, 1.05 and 1.07 it is a great little game. Not an MMORPG but a blast to play it in co op or solo mode for years to come.

So let's wait.

[bufferunderrun]

blizzard always has veto power, i remember a knaak or golden interview where they say that every book is still done with blizzard pre approval and heavy check on what they wrote.

[Masser]

"I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert"

haha they were trying to fuck with Chris Metzen:-D


.....not in this universe!

[Naxere]

This movie is going to be the Duke Nukem Forever of movies. How many years have they been talking about it now?

[BenBos]

"I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert"

haha they were trying to fuck with Chris Metzen:-D


.....not in this universe!

yeah, the way that guy trains his body is ... well, he can join the weight lifter championships next summer.

[Deleted]

I'm happy about it, i mean, i was scared about Blizzard being too permissive regarding lore, i mean, it have to stick to Warcraft's lore or it wouldn't be Warcraft at all, and i think that Sam Raimi wanted something too different from it.

I'm now reassured.

[Netherspark]

I don't think an "original" story written by someone outside of Blizzard would have gone down well.

[endgame619]

good, after spiderman 3, I don't want Raimi with free range

Uh wut? It's been said many times that Sony stepped into 3 and made Raimi shoehorn venom into the movie hoping for a big spin-off.

[vbn]

Opinion. D3 cured me from my WOW addiction...

I play D3 every day...

The movie should just be 100% CGI.

[MrSerious]

I'd love to see a warcraft movie. It should be animated. I would hate to see it done with actors because it would mostly likely turn into one of those b-rated fantasy movies.

[Adramalech]

I'm glad Blizzard's sticking to their own stuff and not letting anyone come up with their original stories, but if I was on the other side of the fence, I'd be absolutely livid at wasting nine months for nothing.

[Sasume]

I'd love to see a warcraft movie. It should be animated. I would hate to see it done with actors because it would mostly likely turn into one of those b-rated fantasy movies.

Like the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies amirite?

[Uennie]

To be fair I really fucking hate it when directors decide to get creative with a set universe (ala Avatar the Last Airbender). Really shits me. Good on Blizzard for sticking to their guns.

[Tziva]

I don't think there's anything weird about Blizzard wanting total control over their IP, especially with how protective their fans are of warcraft lore.

[Taik]

I hope that if this movie ever get's made, that Chris Metzen is involved in the story of the movie. I don't need him voicing anything just need to know that story is approved by him...

[Okacz]

The worst thing you can do with a video game based movie is to make it as close to the game as possible. In that case the best scenario is that watching a movie makes you feel "neato, but I'd rather play the game instead". If Blizzard is so die-hard about not changing anything from their original scripts then I'm pretty afraid.