GameSpy: You've just made the big announcement that Sam Raimi will be directing the Warcraft movie. You're co-producing, so what are your thoughts on the announcement?

Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development, Blizzard Entertainment: We're all very, very excited about the announcement. We waited a long time to announce a director. We've been with Legendary for a number of years and we've jammed a lot of ideas, and we've waited for the right personalities, the right chemistry to come together. We're really, really stoked that it finally has. It's pretty surreal that we've finally made the announcement. It's finally like, "It's on, it's official, here we go." We're just stoked to get it going and see this thing starting to take shape.

GameSpy: Was Sam Raimi one of the originally targeted directors?

Chris Metzen: We talked about a lot of different people, and certainly his name was one of the first we had talked about. We're all huge "Spider-Man" fans, and all of his horror content, like "Army of Darkness" is one of my personal favorites. Sam's one of those guys who came out swinging with "Spider-Man," in terms of handling the licensed product and all the geeky fanfare. The passion of fandom, he really translated that into something that everyone could love, and had a lot of heart. And those were really important components for us, in terms of translating a license, in building a cinematic experience that speaks to the license, but really sings to everybody. That was really, really important to us, so he was the perfect partner.

GameSpy: Warcraft will be a live-action film. Don't you feel like your in-house cinematic team could have made a great movie?

Chris Metzen: What I'd say is I'm one of the biggest fans of our cinematic department, and I love what they do and I love getting to work on that stuff too. But at the end of the day, for a movie, we really want something that's going to capture the imagination of the world, and I think you need living, breathing actors, to some degree, to really bring out that accessibility and that emotion. So I'm really excited to see the live-action take shape. But I'm a huge fan of our animation, and who knows what we'll do with that down the line.

GameSpy: The fan base is relying on you to ensure that the movie stays true to Warcraft. Are you prepared to say that it will be?

Chris Metzen: Absolutely! Absolutely.

GameSpy: What most excites you about co-producing the movie?

Chris Metzen: The thing that would excite me most is just that it translates boldly. That it feels like a fan experience, and that a couple years from now, you sit down in a theater and you're like, "They did it. They got it. That feels genuine." It may not be about your Level 12 Night Elf Hunter, specifically, but all the familiarity -- the locales, the places, the characters, the storylines -- it all feels contiguous and one-to-one with your expectations. That's my great hope.

Source - gamespy.com

Gary Whitta, the former editor-in-chief of PC Gamer who made waves last week when he announced that was "finished" with PC gaming after a hardware crash (only to later tell us that he since rethought his stance to neutral), has announced that he no longer the writer on the Warcraft movie. Whitta, in a post to the gaming forum Quarter To Three said that he had been working with Legendary Pictures and Blizzard for the past two years on the screenplay. However, with the announcement yesterday that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was taking over the project, Whitta revealed that he was no longer on the movie.

"I worked very closely with Legendary and Blizzard to come up with a screenplay that distilled the sprawling Warcraft mythology into a narrative that was easily accessible to the non-player, and everyone was really pleased with the results," Whitta wrote. "I personally thought my last draft of the script in particular was really kick-ass and did a good job of introducing the Warcraft world to non-players while also satisfying hardcore players who knew every nook and cranny of the universe. When Sam expressed interest in the property, however, he had his own pretty specific vision of what he wanted to do story-wise so that's the version they're now pursuing. I'm no longer involved but I wish them all the best with it; so far as I'm concerned Raimi is the best possible director for this."

Source - movies.ign.com

IMDB info so far:

Directed by:
Sam Raimi (Spiderman, Drag me to Hell)

Writing credits:
Chris Metzen (Story writer and artist in Blizzard)

Produced by:
Joshua Donen (Drag me to Hell)
Alex Gartner (The Bank Job, Get Smart)
Jon Jashni (Ninja Assassin, The Hangover)
Michael Morhaime (WoW, Diablo 2, Starcraft)
Sam Raimi
Charles Roven (The Dark Knight, Twelve Monkeys)
Paul Sams
Robert G. Tapert (Drag me to Hell, 30 Days of Night)
Thomas Tull (Watchmen, We are Marshall, 300)

Cast:
David Wenham - Arthas (rumored)
Mark Hildebrandt - Archilon Wrynn (rumored)

Source - imdb.com

After only 2 years since any useful info was posted by Blizzard, it happend. We got the director :)

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment®’s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Raimi has, in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content.

Raimi directed the Spider-Man trilogy, which has broken box-office records around the world and garnered five Academy Award® nominations. Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic, The Evil Dead and produced 30 Days Of Night. He most recently wrote and directed the supernatural thriller, Drag Me To Hell.

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

Charles Roven’s producing talents were recently seen with last summer’s blockbuster The Dark Knight, which grossed in excess of $1 billion, was nominated for eight Academy Awards® and won two. His body of work also includes the widely acclaimed Batman Begins and the sci-fi classic 12 Monkeys. Roven, with Atlas producing partner Alex Gartner, will be producing with Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, Legendary’s Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni, Raimi and Raimi’s producing partner Joshua Donen. Raimi’s partner, Robert Tapert, will be an Executive Producer and Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Creative Development, Chris Metzen, a Co-Producer.

"Partnering with Sam Raimi exemplifies Legendary's mandate of marrying the highest quality intellectual property to world-class filmmakers" said Legendary’s Tull. "Sam's passion for 'Warcraft' is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard's phenomenal franchise. We look forward to collaborating with our partners at Warner Bros. and continuing our successful relationship with Chuck in bringing this rich new world to the screen."

"Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have a shared vision for this film and we searched at length to find the very best director to bring that vision to life," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We're looking forward to working with him to achieve that here."

Source - blizzard.com

So BlizzCon finished, everyone was expecting something new about the movie and we got nothing.

Seriously, someone asked one of the Blizz staff about the movie and only thing he said was they are making it, and if he says anything more they will kill him.

Who knows what happend with the poor bloke, maybe BSS (Blizzard Secret Service) did something to him after all ;)

But is it only me or Blizz is taking this just little too far, or they are not really that much in the movie yet so makes sense to tell nothing cuz there is nothing yet.
And on IMDB it says movie going out in 2009. - strange are the ways of Blizz :)

In the lack of any actual movie content I will put atleast something that is movie like. Its new cinematic intro for Blizzard World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King. In other words awesome, what else to say about this imba cinematic.

Whatever else negative you can say about Uwe Boll, one thing you can’t criticize him on is his strong love for video games. I mean, there may be over 200,000 signatures on an online petition asking that he stop making movies, but he clearly loves the gamer market, and at least goes into each project hoping to make good films for that fanboy community.

Right? Right?!?

“You go for it, to please the game fans, but on the other hand if you have the hard core gamers, they live in their own world. And you cannot fulfill their ideas from a video game based movie, it’s impossible,” Boll recently told MTV News. “And to be honest, the real gamers are the typical download guys, right? They don’t pay anything for movies, because they illegally download the movies. So why I should please these guys? I need the normal audience.”

That’s the Uwe Boll I know and love – the Uwe Boll who’ll criticize even his most ardent followers. God bless you, sir.

But if you’re not going to make a faithful adaptation, why make an adaptation at all? Apparently, the folks over at Blizzard wonder the same thing, since they practically laughed Boll out of their offices when he approached them about making a World of Warcraft adaptation, the director confessed.

“I got in contact with Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, ‘We will not sell the movie rights, not to you…especially not to you,’” Boll revealed. “Because it’s such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it.”

A bad movie! He called his hypothetical adaptation bad. Awesome.

Nothing new from Blizz about the movie but just to something new on the web page. Someone ppl on YT made a nice collection of Warcraft Cinematics from WC3 and WoW so I put them all in Videos part of site to actualy have something there :)

Its a nice way to catch up on some historical events if you are new the the whole Warcraft Lore and for those who already seen the cinematics and know the lore to remember how we came to this point in WoW ;)

Its just unbelivable how many new info is coming out about Warcraft movie. Let me see, in last couple of months - zero :)

Sometimes I just hate Blizz and their Top Secret Production. They could atleast once a month make public some concept art or a name involved with the movie, but thats Blizz :)

Anyway, I put two music videos in the cool stuff. Not about the movie thou, but atleast WoW community is doing something in public :)

Also check out the Tales of the Past machinima WoW story.

Well finaly something solid about movie. On this years Blizzcon lots of juicy details came out in a conference talk between few main people in the project. First thing is that the movie is scheduled to go live during 2009. but because at this moment not cast or the director is chosen, i think late 2009. prolly :)

Second, the movie will be big, huge and even epic, budget is $100mil with a + prolly because Blizzard is known to do their projects perfect. The story will happen about a year before World of Warcraft story (game time ofc) and it will focused on what the whole Warcraft is all about - conflict between Orcs and Humans. There will be new hero introduced, a badass hero they said with a theme of conflict and culture. The movie will be more of War movie then a quest one from the Alliance perspective, so we can expect a badass battle too. We will see races and characters already known through the game story.

Here are few quotes from the talk:

“It’s actually not like the great adventure. It’s not so much a quest movie. It’s more of a war movie. Well, okay, it’s absolutely a war movie. Cultures grinding up to a horrible moment where it just all spills over and gets out of control. Less of an adventure party quest-type situation. More of an armies building to an inevitable conclusion type situation.”

“While my heart lies with the Horde and Thrall’s an interesting character, from a movie making standpoint, a blockbuster movie its a little rough to try and tell it from the perspective of this green looking dude.”

Still no cast and PG-13 content comments:

“We are starting those conversations. We’re going to be looking for someone of Zak Snyder (300) or Chris Nolan (The Dark Knight, Batman Beings) calibre”

“I can tell you that this is the one thing about running a studio and making these things that’s hard. You want to not compromise and have the right level of intensity. The story and the director’s vision is what’s ultimately going to dictate that. Personally one of my favorite movies of all time is Lord of the Rings, which has a PG-13 rating.”

Questions from audience and answers:

Classes will be in the movie, but can’t give details since still in scripting process, not exactly clear and we don’t know yet, but we want many familiar elements in the movie as possible

What races will be represented?
Not very easy to answer considering the timeline we’re talking about, so they are not sure about if the Forsaken have yet joined the Horde But not everyone can be in the spotlight in the first movie anyway

Warcraft has a lot of strong characters, would you consider going back to do another movie on Arthas?
I would consider that, sure, but we haven’t talked about what other films might deal with. We have to get the first movie right first before you deal with franchises.

This is based on two or three major moments in the games, so it isn’t radically apart from the continuity, so it really holds together. We want it to taste like the World of Warcraft world. but it’s also really fresh. I understand the fear that you don’t want us to screw up the story, but we will be respectful of the continuity but will hold up as a killer 2 hour movie. It is a little modified. There’s so much in this world to deal with, so you use that as a jumping off point to tell a kick ass story. They want the players to enjoy the movie experience, if they are too much a slave to the story that won’t be the case. They want to respect the world, but to translate it to the screeen and is great on film.

The full conference video on youtube - about 45mins long

Speaking at the Hollywood and Game summit keynote, Thomas Tull (Legendary Pictures Chairman) gave some new information regarding the Warcraft live action movie, ensuring everyone that the movie will be dealt with as necessary.

He begins, “We’re doing World of Warcraft, and making it into a movie. I have very strong feelings — from the movie side — that making movies based on games just because they sold well is a really bad idea. There’ve been some like that that weren’t up to snuff just out of the gate. It doesn’t matter to us if it’s based on a graphic novel like [Frank Miller’s] 300, or a TV show – if there’s a great universe and story, that’s what’s interesting to us.”

In the following Question and Answer session Tull stated that Legendary and Blizzard are working very closely together to get the storyline perfect by pinpointing what makes up the essence of the Warcraft universe:

“I think some of the stuff that makes a game translate well into a movie is a good story. If there’s a lore, if there’s a road and story and a world that’s been created, and characters that are interesting in a way that’s more than just point and shoot. You have to look at it and not make a novelty out of it. Not just look at sales records. Blizzard plays a very important role in this process. If you’ve created a game, be it Halo, Gears Of War, or Warcraft [each being transformed into a movie] - you came up with something that’s compelling enough to resonate with a huge number of people. There has to be a trust, and you have to at some point hand over the baton to people who know how to make films.”

“We are working very closely with the designers and writers, and they’re very involved. I think on the bigger [films] you have to have that. They’re sitting right there at the table with us as we develop the story and the script, and I think we’re nailing the story and what’s compelling about it.”

you can check Gamasutra for interview.

There’s a World of Warcraft Movie in the works, do you expect that to enjoy similar success?
We’ve been working on that movie for years! If people only knew how many years we put in to closing this movie deal. We’re very happy with our progress though, it was really difficult for us as a company to find some we trusted to work with. With Legendary, well, they did Batman Returns and the new Superman so we knew that was a company we wanted to work with. Bringing Warcraft to the movies is the next step for us, we want to let people bring World of Warcraft into other aspects of their lives. After all, we’re competing for people’s entertainment time, whether it’s listening to music watching TV or going to the cinema. Our goal is to provide the best entertainment out there.

Any news on when we can expect to see the film?
Hollywood has it’s own pace but we’re working as hard as we can to push it forwards.

Check Empire for the full interview.

May 8th 2006 Blizzard Entertainment made an announcement that their Warcraft universe would be adapted into a movie. Legendary Pictures, a company behind Superman Returns, Batman Begins and 300, are to develop the live action film with distribution likely to be Warner Brothers as part of an existing agreement.

Paul Sams, chief operating officer for Blizzard had this to say, “We searched for a very long time to find the right studio for developing a movie based on one of our game universes. Many companies approached us in the past, but it wasn’t until we met with Legendary Pictures that we felt we’d found the perfect partner. They clearly share our high standards for creative development, and because they understand the vision that we’ve always strived for with our Warcraft games, we feel there isn’t a better studio out there for bringing the Warcraft story to film.”

Whilst Thomas Tul, CEO of legendary pictures stated, “One of our goals at Legendary Pictures has been to bring heroic stories to life in groundbreaking ways, and it’s inspiring to work with a company such as Blizzard that takes that approach with each of its products. The Warcraft universe is possessed of such a rich mythology and, as such, serves as an ideal platform as we go about translating that universe into what we intend to be a major event film.”

With regards to the adaptation, Legendary Pictures’ Jon Jashni said, “We are intending to approach this as we would the adaptation of a best-selling novel: respect the essence of all that it is but also build upon that fertile base while translating it into a new medium.”

The official announcement