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How is this news? Blizard have been working on this project in secrecy for quite some time - there's even a clip [google.com] up at google video of short segment of the work.

The animation is fantastic - far above what I thought modern PCs were capable of producing ;-)

...just as long as it isn't directed by Uwe Boll.

The big, full-cast musical finale will be the runaway hit, "The Internet is for Porn".

If you've seen the CGI movies to any of Blizzard's games, you know that their ability to create 3D animation is astounding. Not only that, but it seems to only improve with time. I honestly believe they could be the 'Pixar' of mature content films.

Why would they go for live action if they're so talented at this?

(Though it isn't my favorite, this is their introduction to Diablo II: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8694655550 618960777 [google.com])

While I know this project has been in the works for awhile, I am wondering, though, if it will actually do any good at the box office. I would go see it, because I would personally expect it to be good, but the world of warcraft is huge, there is so much of it I would want to see, and characters from the game I would want to see acted out that I do not think they would be able to appeal to all gamers who enjoy the world. But that is just me. I would be happy with anything I suppose.

In related news, Blizzard has announced that tickets to the show will only be available in 'raid' and 'mini-raid' packages of 40 and 20 tickets respectively. Fans going alone will only see the first 30 minutes of the movie.

As though elfs and orcs are the sole commercial property of the Tolkein estate.

Frankly, even if the broader constructs of WoW are "Tolkeinesque," I look forward to anything that even trys to be as good as the LOTR films were.

Lowes is about to become the ultimate RP server.

I just hope they can get the guy who did all the voice overs in WCII to do some work on the movie.

"Don't you have a kingdom to run"? -Footman
"Stop rocking the boat! you're making me seasick *puking sound*" -Elven destroyer

"Yeeessss Massssterr" - Death Knight
"I'm the smart one! No, I'M the smart one!" - Ogre mage

Well, with any epic action film like this there has to be a male female connection, and speculation on if its going to be cross race or cross faction? Tauren & Gnome? Where is the love going to be in this movie?

Will it be a pr0n movie with naked night elves ?

As long as they find a way to sneak in a line by a dopey sounding guy saying "Ready to Serve", I'll be happy.

The WarCraft series had quite a bit of personality prior to going MMORPG, and (although I haven't had a chance to play it) I would assume they have quite a large base of backstory to draw from in the World of WarCraft game.

Sounds interesting...

MTW

Stand in line for 90 minutes waiting for your ticket to be validated.
Then when you get into the theatre just as the action hots up random people are ejected forcefully and then forced to stand back in line outside.

Of course they want it to be big, they always do. Its not like it will be the first movie to hit the spot.
They are standing on the shoulders of such greats as Street Fighter, Tomb Raider, Pokemon and Doom..

Naturally this movie is a hunter only item. If any one else tries to see it then they should be labled a ninja and booted from the theater.

I really liked the part where all the guys with the dragon loot caught the guy fresh off the farm and killed him. Then camped him for four hours. That was hillarious! Much better than when it happens to me in game.

"Many details of the film deal remained unsettled or undisclosed on Monday, including the choice of director..."

My vote is for Uwe Boll.

to see a sheep just explode randomly in the background of the movie.. I swear I wasted so much of my life being amused by that.

This is the obvious next step for Blizzard. Forget StarCraft II or even putting Ghost back into production. No one wants those; they want another crappy movie based on a video game.

It will be the best movie ever made... when it's finished 20 years from now. And tickets will cost $50. How is that Ghost project going again?

Less than 10% of films based on a video game title survive in any fashion.

Blizzard, spend your money on infastructure upgrades first. This is a little more important to us, your subscribers of WoW.

Horde still suck.

I'm interested, but I don't have a lot of time to go out to the movies these days. Can I pay someone in China to go see it for me?

Over the past several years, Blizzard has yet to produce any product that was less than outstanding: Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft and WoW.

While the gaming industry is getting more similar to the movie industry there are still differences that have been the bane of most game-based movies. I will optimistically have faith that Blizzard can navigate these pitfalls.

You only need to look at the stories and mini-movies in their games from the last five years: Diablo II chapter movie sequences are a good example. Ghost's story in Starcraft and the Undead Prince in Warcraft III are others.

I'd think they would have better luck making a Diablo movie first. I think the story is simpler, has more chances for pulling the audience in and obviously lots of opportunities for special effects and unique scenery. (Imagine a male barbarian, female paladin and male mage travel together.... oh wait, that's Conan. ;-)

Starcraft, too, would make a good movie.

The real questions that occur to me are:
-What time will they choose? (WC III, WoW, before?) Maybe there will just be lots of history explanation and flashbacks.
-What storylines will they follow? There are so many in WoW, but what is the "central" plot line?
-From which point of view will the movie be? I can guess Alliance, but it would be interesting if they did a second movie from the Horde perspective.
-Live action plus CGI special effects, or full digital animation? They'd get more general masses with live action, but they'd have the hardcore following of gamers and anime fans with full digital.

Regardless I think this will be worth seeing, and again, I trust that Blizzard will do a quality job. Let's hope the director and producer(s) they get listen to them.

Blizzard has enough lore behind Azeroth at this point to rival Lord of the Rings - I think they could create a fantastic movie of it. I agree that they should use CGI for it though - they have some of the best drawn and most intriguing intro's to their games of any I've played.

   

The Alone in the Dark film [imdb.com] will be released on DVD today in the US.

Video game films obviously have a bright future.

They should get some advice from raiding guilds =)

I'm wondering if Blizzard might set the movie during the current WoW timeframe and create an opportunity for a reverse Tie In. I have seen SWG and MxO fail dismally, despite the iconic status of the characters which exist in their respective franchises; however, Blizzard could offer a new level of interactive content.

Naturally, it would be easy to have players re-enact certain quests or events that occur in the movie, but Blizzard could also introduce content within the movie and have players explore it interactively within WoW. In addition, certain elements could be decided by in-game events and the eventual out come could be fleshed out in the film.

Personally I've always found the Blizzard cut scenes to be well done and extremely engaging. I'm more than willing to explore what they have to offer in terms of feature length content.

I can see it now. The film will only have sprocket holes every 20th frame or so. It will freeze up as it jumps on the sprockets of the projectors then rapidly spool back to the takeup reel. All the spells and attacks that were frozen onscreen will be cast in 1/24th of a second. Blizzard will blame it on the serice provider and say their film is "Working as intended, no fault found."

Then the 13 year old next to you ninja loots your popcorn.

We want to make a movie that will not only appeal to our existing fans, but will also bring in people that have never heard of Warcraft before.

And that is why it is going to suck.

They gotta have something to spend their millions of dollars on. They take in 50-90 million dollars a month. Their servers can't cost more than a million to run. Staff? Another million. You do the math.

I dunno if going the Hollywood live-action route is a good idea at all. They have 5M+ subscribers, do they really need to expand their audience? Nevermind relating to the other posts about whether or not their servers can handle expanding their market..

How about they just make another DVD of their own CGI? It's more of what we want to see than who they'll likely for actors, directors, locations, etc., and they could put in the voices that we're already familiar with.

Less risky too, since a flop in the box office could kill those hopes of expanding the market.

"... fade into snowy wooded glade, midafternoon. Lots of conieforus trees, bunnies hopping around, mountains in background, stone veranda visible on mountains. Focus on two wagons, with sevral dwarves standing by them. The main protagonist Urmomishot approaches the dwarves. Dwarf1: ! Dwarf2: ! Dwarf3: ! Urmomishot approaches Dwarf1 Dwarf1: Those hundreds of troggs over there have been giving me grief, please go kill 10 of them. Urmomishot approaches Dwarf2 Dwarf2: I have to deliver a package 30 metres down the road, but I'm lazy. Do it for me. Urmomishot approaches Dwarf3 Dwarf3: I need 15 pieces of wolfhide to make you a shirt you don't need. Go get me the hide. A gnome runs up. Gnome: Hey can u spar soem copr? kthxbye ..."

I can see the movie reviews now:

The visuals are beautiful (I especially enjoyed the scenery of the land called Mulgore), and the soundtrack is filled with catchy tunes. But I couldn't understand half of the dialogue. What does 'kk' mean? And what about the mysterious words 'WTS [Warden Staff],' 'LFG UBRS need lock/mage/healer!!!!', and '60 flaged rouge @ XR', not to mention 'WTFPWNLOL'?

Press release [blizzard.com].

If they include a Leeroy Jenkins move [wikipedia.org] in it, it could turn into a brilliant horror movie. ;-)

I dunno, I rather enjoyed the Resident Evil movies.

-Rick