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?
Just so you know, it’s Arthas, not Arthus.
This will be interesting. Movies based on video games tend to have a high failure rate though.
Yes, lets not be creative or original.
I keep thinking “Battlefield Earth” for some reason.
Yes, lets not be original and creative.
Just make the Arthus story.
Jeez, how hard does it have to be?
I knew they’d fuck this up
Hey, I just found this also over at MMORPG.com.
Raimi got the writer of Saving Private Ryan to pen the script for the Warcraft movie.
Is that awesome or what?!?!?!
Sounds wild.
Hmmm, I think is a good writer and the story is almost done, him only needs to play wow. :)
LOL, what the hell?! I thought they WERE doing the Arthus story line. With a story involving both things that happan from the games and the Arthus novels.
Atleast that’s what MMORPG.com was saying they desided on last week. Man this shit is confusing. ;P
Alright, here I go again.
When they say they’re coming up with an entirely new story, I get the idea that they either want to tell a story that is part of Warcraft history, or – more likely – tell a story relevant to the current expansion/patch/events at the time of the film’s release in 2011.
Either way, the movie won’t not contribute to the game as a whole. Blizzard won’t do that. They may want to bring forth a character from the comics/manga out of the woodwork and integrate him into more commonly known Warcraft lore in order to have him/her play a major part in WoW. They may want to expand on an event in Cataclysm as it happens in the game at the time. What won’t contribute to the game as a whole is the commonly known history of a villain who is currently not the focus of the game.
I know I represent the fan perspective. I know that people who don’t play WoW would be more interested in Arthas’ story, but with 11 million people that already know all that it would be silly to rehash it. With 11 million fans, it would be stupid not to cater to them.
“…of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.”
I sure hope that does not include trade chat.
Or Barrens.
I’m with you, Rodney. Arthus’ story would be awesome.
I just picked up a copy of Warcraft 3 and its a pretty awesome game. I never could get into WoW because everywhere I went I kept getting my ass kicked by everyone!!! Anyways, I love the lore of WoW but having Raimi on it…SoB!!! Now we are going to get nothing buy an orc and human love fest like in those shitfest movies called Shittyman…i mean spiderman.
Give me Saving Private Ryan with orcs, elves, gnomes, and what have you and I’d be happy. While they are at it, they should drop Raimi and get Spielberg to direct it so it has the same look and feel as well!
Agree, I like the idea of the Saving Private Ryan cinematrogrphy with WoW but, having Raimi direct would be a step in the wrong direction.
Just give me 30-40 minutes of Orc warriors smashing the head of human paladins and you have my OK! :p ….. I hope this movie doesn’t suck.
Uh oh Rodney, prepare to get flamed by the nerds. You spelled Arthas wrong…
And I agree. There is plenty of lore in Warcraft that they don’t really need an original story. But whatever it is, I just hope it doesn’t suck.
I agree with you, Rodney. The Arthus story seemd like a good starting point for a franchise.
The real question is how much Blizard will be involved. Their name is THE gold standard in the industry: They refuse to make crap. If it is known that the heads of blizard have veto power, the fans can rest easy knowing that if it looks like the movie is going to suck, Blizard will rather cancel the whole thing rather than have their perfect record tarnished.
I agree. Though wrong dicisions are obvious in the upcoming projects. (No LAN Modus in Starcraft 2, comic look in Diablo 3, to name only a couple)
There is no need for LAN when everyone has internet, and it reduces piracy. I could care less about the lack of LAN modes in SC2.
My only issue with Starcraft 2 is the 3 separate releases for each race.