Sam Raimi to direct upcoming Warcraft movie

Brian Ambrozy 22 Jul, 2009 at 2:41pm ET Article published in Gaming

Comments

1. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 2:57pm Koreish Let's all just go ahead and say regardless of Sam Raimi's influence this movie is not going to be good.
2. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 3:01pm primesuspect Alright
   
   /me raises hand
   
   "Hear hear"
3. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 3:03pm MAGIC The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter how good it is. EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has played a warcraft game with see it. It'll make an absurd amount of money.
   
   There is so much lore behind the warcraft world it'll be interesting to see what they focus on for the story.
4. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 3:22pm Thrax Sam Raimi? It'll have nothing but undead and slapstick comedy.
5. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 4:30pm Grimnoc

   Thrax wrote:

   Sam Raimi? It'll have nothing but undead and slapstick comedy.

   
   I'd like to indignantly respond that I see absolutely nothing wrong with this.
   
   At least if the script is crap (which you're amost garaunteed that it will be) you'll be entertained by decent directing.
   
   *Btw, have they said who the writers will be?
6. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 5:08pm Thrax Decent directing? Riiiiiight.
7. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 6:32pm Butters Regardless if Raimi brings his "A" game, the movie will suck. Just like book->film movies usually suck for those who have read the book, game->film movies will suck for those who play the game.
   
   Will it be worth it to see, probably.
   Would capture the essense of the game, probably not.
   Will be half-assed like the latest game->filmer's Doom, Hitman & Max Payne, yes probably.
   Will I eventually see it, yeah once its on basic cable.
   
   But at this point, its way too early to tell, Max Walberg and Mila Kunis are "stars", but Max Payne isn't a "Must-See". But if Blizzard or Vivendi or whoever the hell controls the rights to what will happen in the movie is smart, they would put enough resources into this to make it worthwhile and cash in on possibility of future sequels, granted, if the first movie rocks.
8. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 6:55pm Nemikan HEY I KNOW LETS MAKE IT ABOUT THE ALLIANCE!
   
   I'll be happy as long as they don't' make the horde out as the bad guys the whole movie.
9. 
   22 Jul 2009 ~ 6:59pm primesuspect After learning about the lore a bit, my son Kyle said: "I thought the Alliance were the good guys, but it turns out that the Horde are the good guys and the Alliance are jerks."
10. 
    22 Jul 2009 ~ 7:40pm ardichoke

    MAGIC wrote:

    The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter how good it is. EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has played a warcraft game with see it.

    
    I've played and enjoyed WarCraft 2 and 3. I will not see this movie. I will not see it for the same reasons I didn't see Doom or Max Payne or Hitman... because it's going to suck and I don't want the movie to ruin the games for me. That said, yes, it will probably make a stupid amount of money and that makes me sad.
11. 
    22 Jul 2009 ~ 7:50pm fatcat Hitman and Max Payne were decent though
12. 
    22 Jul 2009 ~ 7:57pm Thrax LOL no they weren't.
13. 
    22 Jul 2009 ~ 8:04pm Ryder I liked Hitman.. but I never played the game.. Ditto for Max Payne.
14. 
    22 Jul 2009 ~ 10:42pm Snarkasm They were both decent movies in their own right, but weren't what I'd call adherents to their attributed subject matter.
15. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 8:53am poofie i'll probably see it, but i admit i have really shallow taste in movies, and Bruce Campbell will probably be in it.
16. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 9:33am kryyst No hitman and Max Payne sucked. They weren't good movies and they really sucked if you referenced them to the video game.
    
    Hitman the game works because it's a fun game. But the entire concept of it is a huge flaw. Lets just say - if you want to make a secret organization of elite assassins who can blend into society don't shave them bald and put barcodes on their heads. - you aren't inconspicuous anymore. Now the movie itself had some good action scenes. I think it was horribly cast but it also had some major inconsistencies, I just think I've been fortunate enough to block them out of my head.
    
    Max Payne. Walberg - awesome. The movie though just entirely dropped the ball. The whole angel spin <shudder>
    
    WoW the movie will suck. I like Raimi, it's not a ding againt him. But the movie will suck. WoW, despite it's huge popularity isn't an iconic setting. It's not LoTR, Conan or the Three Musketeers. It comes across as generic fantasy to most people, even those that play WoW.
    
    The movie will suck for all the reasons that all the D&D movies, and Dungeon Siege sucked. There is no story or theme for the audience to rally behind and the scope of the setting is to huge to contain within one movie. While all those things in and of themselves don't mean you can't make a good movie. What it does lead to is a generic movie with a tacked on theme. That is where the problem lies.
    
    So for this movie to succeed they have to basically make a good action movie that is fun and have to make characters that stand out in their own right and become memorable. The movie would have to be solid enough to exist outside of the Warcraft branding and for lots of people it'll have to feel distinct enough to stand out against comparisons to LoTR.
    
    There's just a whole heck of a lot that can go wrong. There is a very thing line where it all has to fit together to really work.
17. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:15pm Cliff_Forster

    poofie wrote:

    i'll probably see it, but i admit i have really shallow taste in movies, and Bruce Campbell will probably be in it.

    
    I can't believe this thread got this far without a single mention of Bruce Campbell.
    
    Poofie's geek cred just went up a couple of points.
    
    I don't give a damn what kind of movie it is, Bruce Campbell always makes it a little better.
18. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:31pm ardichoke

    poofie wrote:

    i'll probably see it, but i admit i have really shallow taste in movies, and Bruce Campbell will probably be in it.

    Damnit.... if Bruce Campbell is in it I'll have to go see it just for the lulz. I'll just make sure I go to a daytime show when the tickets are cheap(er)
19. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:34pm MAGIC Bruce Campbell as Arthas would be awesome, and a decent plot line to follow for a movie.
20. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:38pm MAGIC

    ardichoke wrote:

    Damnit.... if Bruce Campbell is in it I'll have to go see it just for the lulz. I'll just make sure I go to a daytime show when the tickets are cheap(er)

    
    Movie theatures lease the rights to show movies and pay a royalty on each ticket sold, so seeing a cheaper matenee doesn't stick it to the bad movie making man in the way you would love to do. It just hurts the margin of your local cinema.
21. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:42pm ardichoke I'm not really concerned with hurting Hollywood. I know they're going to get their cheddar one way or another. All I care about is feeling slightly less dirty about paying to see a movie that I know is going to be bad.
22. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:43pm Koreish It's not WoW kryst it's Warcraft as a series. Which I think has a setting and a plot that is movie worthy. It will get all sorts of fucked up though because I highly doubt Raimi and any of his writers will actually play the games. And I doubt Blizzard will oversee anything other than the profits.
    
    It won't work as a movie because all the hardcore fans will tear it apart, the casual WoW fans won't understand whats going on, and everyone else won't see it because it's too "nerdy".
23. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:49pm MAGIC

    Koreish wrote:

    It's not WoW kryst it's Warcraft as a series. Which I think has a setting and a plot that is movie worthy. It will get all sorts of fucked up though because I highly doubt Raimi and any of his writers will actually play the games. And I doubt Blizzard will oversee anything other than the profits.
    
    It won't work as a movie because all the hardcore fans will tear it apart, the casual WoW fans won't understand whats going on, and everyone else won't see it because it's too "nerdy".

    
    You really think blizzard will just turn over the rights of their cash cow for someone to portray it how they want on that big of a stage? I can't imagine that blizzards writers won't have a hand in the story and keeping it realistically correct. And, until it actually sucks, as everyone is so quick to jump to that conclusion, i am pretty excited to see what they do and how it turns out.
24. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:52pm Koreish I do.
25. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 1:53pm Thrax Blizzard has already said that it will have a large hand in the direction of the movie. It already rejected Uwe Boll when he tried to get involved with the project last year.
26. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 2:30pm Garg I'll see it for Sam Raimi. I'll see it twice if Bruce Campbell is in it.
    
    It will probably suck for all of the reasons Kryyst lists. Hopefully there's some comedy to rescue it.
27. 
    23 Jul 2009 ~ 2:42pm kryyst According to a an old Blizcon 2007 posting I dug up
    
    "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."
    
    So.... yeah.
28. 
    24 Jul 2009 ~ 1:00am CrazyJoe Well duh, it is called, WARcraft... There better be war in it...
29. 
    24 Jul 2009 ~ 4:07pm MiracleManS

    Gargoyle wrote:

    I'll see it for Sam Raimi. I'll see it twice if Bruce Campbell is in it.

    
    I'm with Garg here...bring on Bruce.
30. 
    24 Jul 2009 ~ 4:11pm GnomeWizardd while the concept of Max Payne the movie sucked it was a decent enough movie to enjoy
31. 
    29 Jul 2009 ~ 12:00pm Grimnoc Hmmmmmmmmmm....interesting points all around.
    
    I think whether or not it will suck depends nearly entirely on the writers.
    
    ......and I suppose since ninety percent of all movie writing sucks it will suck too. *sigh*
32. 
    30 Jul 2009 ~ 12:21pm MAGIC Its not all writing. Some movies are just good because they find a balance between half way decent writing, explosions, and decent acting.
    
    Look at the subject. I'm not expecting Pulp Fiction, but i expect if its executed well it will be an entertaining movie. And, how "good" a movie appears to be is completely subjective. Take Transformers 2 for instance. I think they tried to cover up completely terrible writing and acting with a shit ton of explosions. The formula was way out of balance and i think the movie was terrible half way through it, but others like it.
33. 
    30 Jul 2009 ~ 12:26pm Koreish Half way through? You give it to much credit sir.
34. 
    1 Aug 2009 ~ 2:51am Grimnoc Point taken Magic, but I'd still lean the formula much more towards the writing than anything else.
35. 
    14 Aug 2009 ~ 10:48am test_tube_tony I think what really screws a lot of video game movies up is they didn't stick to the story of the game. Doom, Bloodrayne, and Silent Hill (although it was a good movie) are all examples of this. Video games usually have a really good story behind them. Why change a good thing? Doom3 had a decent story line. Could have made an interesting movie on the level of say, Event Horizon. but no, they change the majority of the plot, get mediocre writers , and cast The Rock. Oh, and I read mention of Uwe Boll. I'd rather watch "MANOS" The Hands of Fate weekly for the rest of my life than see another one of his movies. A good game movie tho that I'd like to see, assuming they completely stuck to the plot and hired good actors, would be the Half Life series. id love to see some of the crazy stuff, especially from from HL2, on the big screen. lots of potential for really good effects and big explosions.