Thrall will be in the movie. It will be told primarily from the Alliance point of view The time of the movie is set about 1 year before World of Warcraft begins. The film is mainly about cultures in conflict. It won't be an adventure movie like LoTR, more of a war film.
But it has little other information about what may be included.One thing we know for sure is that Uwe Boll (of BloodRayneinfamy) will not be receiving the movie rights. I expect any WoW movie to be as abhorrently bad as the as the campy but quaint Dungeons and Dragons film of 2000.To be successful, a Hollywood movie would need to appeal to a larger audience than WoW fans.
There is probably no name more reviled in the realm of film than Uwe Boll -- he's the man behind such horrible games-to-films as House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark (the latter of which, I am somewhat embarrassed to say, I tried to watch). And while it isn't really news that Uwe Boll isn't directing the World of Warcraft movie (we already knew, from back at Blizzcon, that Legendary Pictures is handling it, and Boll usually uses his own financing and production companies), but this is too great a story to pass up. Apparently when Boll heard that a Warcraft movie was being made, he actually went to Blizzard to try to get it done, and they told him straight up: no, never, not in a million years.
Actually, Boll himself tells the story over on MTV Movies as "we will not sell the movie rights, not to you.... especially not to you." Which is pretty hilarious. He himself also says that "because it's such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it." So yes, he pretty much guarantees that any movie he makes would be a bad movie anyway.
So there's at least one great thing we can say about the Warcraft movie so far: Blizzard at least cares enough about the quality of the flick to not let Uwe Boll make it. This doesn't guarantee us a good movie, of course. But it's nice to know that the higher ups at Blizzard know to keep their property away from this nut.
Those loony guildies of The Guild are back for episode number 6, and things are rocky after the real-life meeting at Cheesybreads. We get a (scary) glimpse into Codex's romantic past, Zaboo still won't stop with the weirdness, and Clara needs some help with the kids, which leads to even more friction between Vork and Tink.
But things promise to get interesting next time around-- someone shows up at the end who might finally have the ability to set Zaboo straight once and for all. The Guild is always a good time, and this episode is no exception.
Yet another episode of the quickly-becoming a fan favorite series The Guild has hit the 'net, and in this episode, the players decide to all meet up in real life. Always an interesting experience, and as you might expect, this happening is no exception.
One of the series' charms has always been that it perfectly captures the experience of being an MMO guildie, and the punchline at the end of this one is probably the best and most real joke I've seen in the series yet. No matter how much my guildies and I may or may not have in common whenever we meet up in real life, there's always one thing we can all count on. Funny stuff.
With all the parodies & ridiculous movies people crank out using WoW, it's almost rare to see someone trying to make an actual fantasy short for a change. This is a well-made little flick that gets bonus points from me for paying homage to The Sword & the Sorceror, possibly the coolest movie of my childhood...
Well, since I don't speak the Taiwanese language (I think that's what this is in), I have no idea what they're singing about, but this is definitely one of the best-edited WoW fan videos I've seen in some time. It's called Eternal Legend, and even unintelligible, it's still quite enjoyable. Kudos to the creator; check it out below.
As the momentum for the Warcraft film (I'm just taking a wild stab & guessing that it will indeed be called simply Warcraft, and not World of Warcraft...but who knows) continues to build up, an interesting bit of news came to light on Aintitcool.com yesterday. In a conversation with Brandon Routh (the new Superman, for those of you who live under a rock), the topic of the WoW film came up, prompting Routh to proclaim his love for the game, and to voice his interest in being a part of the project. The exchange in part went:
Harry – ...as soon as I read the news, knowing that you were a Warcraft guy, I just had to bring it up cuz you're the title character of Legendary's biggest film to date and that's their movie.
Brandon – Yeah, I know. They told me they went down and met with BLIZZARD's guys, that's pretty... that's interesting.
Harry – Get your agent on it immediately.
Brandon – YEAH! My manager is right here, he's perked up.
I haven't seen Routh in action yet, as most of you haven't, but he's been getting rave write-ups for his performance as the Man of Steel, and his star will almost certainly be on the rise after Superman Returns is released next week. His potential involvement could bring a lot of buzz to the project, so it will be interesting to see how this develops.
In any case, I'm reminded of one of the endlessly quotable lines of dialogue from William Peter Blatty's The Ninth Configuration: "Would you please tell this idiot that there is no room in any of Shakespeare's plays for Superman?"
As Elizabeth reported earlier, the rumor about Spielberg directing the new Warcraft film flew across my desk yesterday, but I hesitated to report it, as I was convinced that it couldn't possibly be true. And after seeing this article today on Gamespot, it appears that, for the 134th time this week, I was right.
Since the news first hit, debate has raged as to the plausibity of such a rumor, with some fans claiming Spielberg to be an avid fantasy fan who would be a perfect match for the project, and others claiming that he wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.
Well, as of this morning, it looks like no pole will be needed, as nothing in today's Variety (the reputed source of the news) mentions the WoW film or makes any mention of Spielberg's involvement, and if it was happening, it would very likely be in there. So, it's looks like this one is more kindling for the rumor pile. Personally, I'm still crossing my fingers for John (Conan) Milius's Warcraft: The Motion Picture, but that may be too much to hope for.
Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Don't look so shocked...you should be surprised I haven't posted any Brokeback Mountain parodies until now. Not the most skillfully made of films, but then neither was the real thing...
Which is approximately the distance that I was willing to walk to get away from any radio station playing this song back in 1993. Fortunately, this version is much cooler...it's actually kinda heartwarming. And it doesn't have those annoying Poindexter guys screaming in my face...
Ever wonder what it would be like if two big contenders in the MMO sweepstakes squared off against each other, MC Hammer-style? Yeah, me either...but it's pretty dang funny...
Everyone has been buzzing about the announcement last week of a live-action Warcraft film, and now Gamespot has an interview with Blizzard exec Paul Sams, where he discusses some of the goals in bringing WoW to the big screen.
" We're not trying to take what we've done and...try to make a literal translation to the big screen. What we want to do is to make a great movie that happens to be set in a video game universe. That's a differentiator, and a key differentiator."
It sounds to me like they have the right attitude about the project, as no direct adaptation, if one is even possible, is going to please everyone. The best idea is for them to craft a solid, compelling story that happens to be set in the gameworld we all know & love, and just try to make a good film first & foremost. From this interview, it seems that's exactly what they're trying to do, so lets just hope the suits don't stick too many fingers in the pie between script & screen...
The folks over at Machinima.com have put together a great collection of Warcraft machinima videos & featured them in their very own channel over at their website. There are some really clever videos here, some of which you may have seen, but plenty which were new to me.
The Vengeance series, in particular, is a lot of fun, but all the movies are worth watching. Any particular favorites that you guys enjoyed?
In the latest example of the emerging trend of live-action machinima remakes, our good friend Leeroy Jenkins finally gets the flesh & blood treatment. And no, it's still not all that funny...
I'm really enjoying the Heroes coming in this summer's movie lineup. I absolutely loved Iron Man, I'm stoked about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and I can't wait Christian Bale's encore Batman performance in The Dark Knight. There's been noise since Blizzcon 2007 that there will be a World of Warcraft movie. The synopsis on IMDB reads:
There is probably no name 
Looking for more of 
Subscribe
