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Diablo Movie Now in the Works?

Posted by Zonk on from the everything's-turning-up-blizzard dept.

To go along with the still fairly-mysterious World of Warcraft movie, via CVG comes the word at Blizzplanet that a movie based on Blizzard's Diablo games may be in the works. "Few weeks ago, a rumor circulated the net that Gary Whitta would be working with Legendary Pictures to develop a Diablo film. The participation of Gary Whitta hasn't been confirmed, but surprise-surprise. Legendary Pictures website is listing DIABLO under the 'In Development' section. No press release has been made available. The news section has been replaced by a 'Legendary 2.0 is coming soon' notice. A week ago, the news section over at Legendary Pictures website had not been updated since Q3 2006. Stay tuned for any updates. A press release could be posted by them in a few days. Diablo is coming to the big screen!"

22 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting idea by hedwards · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but will it work. I think that in many respects a Diablo or Fallout based movie has some chance of being worth watching. Whoever gave the green Doom and Resident evil should have been fired. A game can rely on being interactive to advance interest, allowing for the player to make choices, and movies don't at all. The limit to the intereaction is in how one is moved by the movie. In that sense I think that a RPG based movie would have some potential in that adventure movies can and have been well done in the past.

    1. Re:Interesting idea by analog_line · · Score: 2

      Resident Evil made enough money that a sequel was made, so whoever greenlighted that probably shouldn't have been fired. People went to see it, it made money, ergo it was the right idea. Art isn't what the movies are about. Art movies generally don't make big bucks, it's just nice when they do.

    2. Re:Interesting idea by ajs · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Whoever gave the green Doom and Resident evil should have been fired. Yes, but not because the source material did or did not lack a basis for the movies. Actually, R.E. was a decent attempt. They tried fairly hard, but simply got trapped by the ugly rules of horror movies. Had they decided to make an atypical horror movie, it might have worked. I liked the characters. I liked some of the story (though some was too obviously formulaic). The ending was nice, though it could have done with slightly less skin which made a scene that should have felt scary and stark feel more like a peep show in a hospital.

      The Doom movie was bad writing and bad casting, but there was nothing about the Doom story that lacked for good source material. In fact, the primary problem with the Doom movie was that they removed the interesting parts of the story (the "demons" were the result of experiments with alien DNA, not demons from hell).

      I maintain that a good movie could have been made from either source. It simply wasn't and the person who greenlighted either film certainly knew that early on.
    3. Re:Interesting idea by Flimzy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think that a RPG based movie would have some potential
      That explains why Dungeons & Dragons (2000) was such a wonderful movie, with an average user rating of 3.6 (out of 10).
    4. Re:Interesting idea by werewolf1031 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Keep in mind that D&D by itself is no more than a (fairly generic) set of gaming rules designed to facilitate roleplay in a variety of fantasy settings; in and of itself it does provide not a specific world setting with its own rich history. Now, if they'd bothered to draw specifically from one of TSR's old settings designed for the D&D game system, eg. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, etc. (sorry I'm out of touch with the newer settings, if there are any), and adapted a story from one of those fictional worlds, then they probably would've been better served in terms of having rich source material from which to craft a good story/script. Actually, Dragonlance would've provided gobs of story-telling material, but then you're making a movie based on a game setting based on a series of novels, so it'd be better to bypass the game material/mechanics altogether and just draw the script directly from concepts provided in the novels. Making a movie based on D&D is like making a movie based on GURPS or the Hero system; there's no inherent "story" to it (without 'plugging in' a separately purchased expansion set or creating your own world setting), the players are expected to create their own stories (and world) as they play.

  2. Blizzard Would Make Any Annocements by moore.dustin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Blizzard would be the place any Diablo movie would be announced, just like everything else they do. They would work it up, start the hype machine, and ride it through the movies release. I highly doubt they are going to let word just, spill out. Nothing should be taken for anything of worth till Blizzard, themselves, say they are making a Diablo movie.

    --
    Invexi - a Phoenix, AZ based web design and web development company.
  3. Why? by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why do they keep on making movies based off video games. Has there ever been a single one that wasn't completely crap? Sure they generate a few bucks, but it's not like any of the actors/directors/writers actually gain any prestige by working on these movies. Why even bother creating such crappy movies.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    1. Re:Why? by Supurcell · · Score: 4, Funny
      Sure they generate a few bucks...


      I think you just stumbled upon the secret motivation behind these mysterious thing we have called "companies".
    2. Re:Why? by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey! Super Mario Bros. was awesome.

  4. Excited? by Fozzyuw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Diablo is coming to the big screen!

    I cannot say that I'm excited. But it begs to ask, will we see "Diablo 3: the Movie" game?

    --
    "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
  5. MY script for the movie: by spocksbrain · · Score: 4, Funny

    *clang* *clang* *clang* "cha-ching" *clang* *clang* *clang* "cha-ching" *clang* *clang* *clang* "cha-ching" *clang* *clang* *clang* "inventory is full" x 1,000,000 The End. BTW... they are fun and addicting games, and I still love them. However, I would rather have movies based on the stories from warcraft or starcraft universes, much more depth)

    1. Re:MY script for the movie: by iknownuttin · · Score: 3, Funny
      *clang* *clang* *clang* "cha-ching" *clang* *clang* *clang* "cha-ching" *clang* *clang* *clang* "cha-ching" *clang* *clang* *clang* "inventory is full" x 1,000,000 The End.

      On the DVD extras of Star Wars III, there's a segment on the pre-production of the movie. Lucas walks in with the script and one of his employees says something like, "That was fast!"
      Lucas then says something like, "It wasn't hard. It's line of dialog and then several pages of 'then they fight'."

      cha-ching! indeed!

      --
      I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
    2. Re:MY script for the movie: by kkohlbacher · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can see it now...
      Sitting in movie theatre, on screen a Paladin emerges from the shadows slowly reaching for the treasure chest below him:

      Paladin: "Here it is. The Brainhew. +14 to Minimum Damage, +4 Light Radius, 10-14% Mana stolen per hit, and 15-35 fire damage. The legends were true..."

      *Movie theatre crowd erupts into cheers, hoots and hollers*

    3. Re:MY script for the movie: by everphilski · · Score: 3, Funny

      no, no, full Isenharts!

  6. It's difficult enough to write a good movie. by khasim · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When you're basing it upon a game ...

    Well, really GOOD writers could still come up with a good movie. But these people aren't looking to make a good movie.

    They're looking to cash in on the name. They're hoping that enough Diablo players will want to see the movie that they'll turn a profit NO MATTER HOW BAD IT IS.

    Otherwise they'd be mining the hundreds of years of literature for books that have not been made into movies yet.

    1. Re:It's difficult enough to write a good movie. by StarvingSE · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, really GOOD writers could still come up with a good movie. But these people aren't looking to make a good movie.

      No, the really good writers just aren't interested in writing a game-to-movie port. It doesn't matter how good or deep a game is, video games are still seen as the exact opposite of classic literature and having no intellectual value. Because of this, good writers probably don't want to associate themselves in the genre. Even if they wanted to do a fantasy-themed movie, they would choose to go after Lord of the Rings before Final Fantasy since the former has literary merit.

      --
      I got nothin'
  7. Can you say that with a mouth full of caviar? by khasim · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because of this, good writers probably don't want to associate themselves in the genre. Even if they wanted to do a fantasy-themed movie, they would choose to go after Lord of the Rings before Final Fantasy since the former has literary merit.

    Most writers, even the good ones, don't make much money from writing.

    So, throw a LOT of money at one of the good writers and allow him/her to write under a nom de plume.

    Let the writer talk to some of the fans of the game to see what aspects resonate with them. Show them a walk through with all the dialog so they can get a feel for the game's universe and history.

    Then turn them lose.

    But it all starts with BUYING a good writer for the project. :)
  8. Details by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe they'll finally explain how tiny little Rakanishu can hide two magical halberds and a pile of gold coins under his loincloth.

  9. A movie, eh? by PhetusPolice · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can see the title now: "Diablo: The Quest for an SoJ"

  10. Spoiler warning by roystgnr · · Score: 2, Funny

    click click click click click click click click click click click click

    Hmm... Slashdot thinks that my description of a typical Diablo game violates their "lameness filter". I agree, but why should my post be punished for that? It's Blizzard's fault.

  11. Been there done that by aarku · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a musical and it goes something like this:

    *Sung to the tune of Badger badger badger*

    Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky

    UNIQUE! UNIQUE!

    CaClicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky

    UNIQUE! UNIQUE!

    Oooooooh, a rare, ooooh it's a rare.

    (Repeat ad infinitum.)

  12. Re:awesome by mattgoldey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Diablo II came out 7 years ago.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_2

    I'd love for them to make Diablo III, but as a WoW player, I've seen SO much of the Diablo games incorporated into WoW, that I don't think they'd even bother. WoW practically is D3.