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Sam Raimi To Direct World of Warcraft Movie
Decado writes "Blizzard has just announced that Sam Raimi is to direct the new World of Warcraft movie. 'Raimi, acclaimed director of the blockbuster Spider-Man series, will bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in epic live-action film. Charles Roven's Atlas Entertainment will produce alongside Raimi's Stars Road Entertaiment.' While it's still early in the process, does this offer hope that someone might finally make a good movie based on a game IP?"
require WoW players to stop playing WoW?
Can they even do that?
... this film gonna be bad... like so many other film based on a game... I can't even name one good film based from a game.
Maybe it's just a feeling...
I can't call that English
Thank God they didn't tap Uwe Bol for this one.
More music, fewer hits
I can't imagine remotely what this movie will actually be like. But I suspect it will suck.
Edit: Hopefully they won't cast Ben Affleck as Varian Wrynn either... or in any role, for that matter.
More music, fewer hits
Anyone remember Dungeons and Dragons The Movie and how awesome that turned out? Or the TV series based on Super Mario and Zelda?
Yeah...
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
Did anyone forget the shitstain that was Spiderman 3?
We had emo Peter Parker, and a song and dance number in the middle of it!
Here's hoping Raimi goes back to his evil dead roots and makes a proper movie . . .
oh yeah and Bruce Campbell had better be in it!
And No again since blank messages get rejected
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Maybe the movie will be called Cataclysm?
For the real WoW experience, buy it on DVD and watch it a few hundred times.
Games, in principle, could make perfectly decent movies(half life could really do with a decent treatment); but I have a very bad feeling about this one.
Because of their business model, MMORPGs have to feature large worlds where large numbers of characters can be the center of attention, to the degree that there even is one. In most cases, WoW being one, there isn't even much in the way of "history" going on. The world stays pretty much the same, no matter what you do, the same NPCs show up, with only the occasional prescripted changed. That isn't inspiring material for a movie. At best, they'll pretty much have to make a Warcraft movie and just use WoW as a marketing tie-in.
The press release doesn't mention a "World of Warcraft" movie, just a "Warcraft" movie. Perhaps this will be geared towards the more linear storyline of the RTS games?
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
Why can't I ever compose all my thoughts before clicking submit?
Look for a gnome-engineer-built yellow steampunk Oldsmobile on the streets of Stormwind.
More music, fewer hits
The movie will be 16 hours long and will chronicle the journey of Frank the warrior on his epic quest to gather seventeen moose heads from the moose spawning area. He makes it to level 12, setting the viewer up for the sequel, where he can finally buy new armour and eat the soft banana bread he was previously not battle hardened enough to eat.
It's been a long time.
A friend pointed out that this basically guarantees that Bruce Campbell will be involved.
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
...Army of Darkness was already half way to being a WoW movie.
"does this offer hope that someone might finally make a good movie based on a game IP?"
Actually I thought Doom was a decent flick. No masterpiece, but it's a "good movie".
Raimi is WAY past his prime. But then, so is WoW.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What I find interesting is that Chris Metzen, Blizzard's senior VP of creative development and writer for much of the Warcraft universe is listed as a co-producer of the movie.
Which it is almost a foregone conclusion that he won't be, he'd take the story line of Warcraft 2 or maybe Warcraft 3 and adapt it under a different title.
World of Warcraft and Warcraft share the same lore. Events from the RTS influenced what happened in the MMORPG. The Wrath of the Lich King expansion is fallout from the events of WCIII- The Frozen Throne.
Don't rush me, Sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
It's just titled Warcraft. Remember those RTS games and books? I'll pretend it's based on those instead of WoW.
Though a character named 'Leroy Jenkins' would be hilarious.
Quick! Someone book all the Wayans brothers for other engagements during filming so there's no chance they'll be cast as lovable, doofus sidekicks to the 20-year-old white kid!
Suppose - for a moment - that you're right, and they can come with an above-the-average film. "That was awesome, imagine the game" - now, that's the real problem. For Blizzard, profit; for players, hell. The game is already crowded with chinese gold spammers and 12-years-old interested only in killing "the mobs" and getting TEH big badass weapon or so (level 80, of course). Not that liking Counter-Strike genre games is a bad thing; but IMHO when you force your ways into other people, be it in a game or not, it's bad, yes. Today, RP gamers have to flee to less populated RP servers if they want the RP experience they're looking for, since the main ones are already full of people complaining why Blizzard would keep RP servers if everybody knows the only and main purpose in the game is getting to level 80 with epic items, everybody knows that - I've seen some discussions like that already. Well, it's a business, it sells well, nothing wrong with that - but a good movie would only catalyze this very effect, and no more RP gaming. Choosing to stay on a specific MMORPG realm (with its specific problems) is each one's choice, depending on how well one can handle these problems; when you massify something, no matter what your main objective is (usually money), you're probably destroying a particular variation or representation of this something. That goes for games, music, comics, books, history itself. As for me, my bias is obviously towards RP gaming; even if it was not the case, I'd still stick with this line - I even feel sorry for all the hardcore Resident Evil players out there, having to deal with the newborne "specialists" after seeing all the movies about it. Even worse for X-Men people.
AT &F1DT0,T0800665544 - Real men, real help desk support.
Else we'll get to see something like this:
Young Grurk is a hunter of his tribe, and he's set out to conquer the world. He meets some old leader of his tribe who proceeds to tell Grurk his life story, giving the watcher of the show a chance to head back to the lobby to get himself some treats. Then Grurk heads out to collect a few apples, fishes or Murlocheads for his Elder. On his way, he meets the token cleric who has essentially been given the same task, but they both choose to ignore each other. Grurk finally makes his way to great Orkgrimmar, where some other Elder tells him his life story (time for a piss break), then sends Grurk out to collect cactus apples, sea shells or Murlokfins (but of course from different Murloks, else it would get boring, right?). He meets some other people who do essentially the same drag he does, but again, everyone is ignoring everyone else.
Let's fast forward, the story doesn't really changes aside of the crap Grurk is gathering.
He finally arrives at some cave, some temple, some place of importance, where someone big bad is lurking inside. Suddenly Grurk acknowledges the existance of the Cleric (who is still doing essentially the same he does, just a bit slower) and they both start yelling and searching for a mighty warrior to join them in their quest to clean that temple of evil, while Mages and Rogues dance around them, trying to incite them to be taken along (but who needs them). They finally grudgingly agree to take the Mage along, but first he has to treat them to a feast.
Eventually they find the mighty warrior and they set out to conquer the temple. A lot of fights ensue, often their life is at stake and more often than not one of our heroes manages to save the day. Until the Warrior finally blinks, tells the rest "sorry, mom called, gotta mow the lawn" and vanishes into a puff of smoke.
Our heroes unwrap their porting stones and soon they find themselves in one of the local taverns. Fade out, more in the sequel.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I don't know if Blizzard has anything to do with the movie other than as a content source. But they already have experience in this area. The Diablo I and II cinematics and plot were well done. Same with the Warcraft 3 cinematics. Warcraft 2's movies were pretty gimmicky though.
I have hope, it could actually go well.
Here's a great idea. Let's take a medium like video games; that works extremely well for a specific method of storytelling which deeply immerses the player, and shoehorn it into another medium like say film. Which to date hasn't been able to adapt a single video game story into anything other than a fiasco.
And that was the last Terry Fox run I ever participated in.
"How does one kill that which has no life?"
P.
when you can live it...
It'll be told almost entirely in flashbacks to reproduce the grind experience to cater to the hardcore fans. There are plans to do a 10 minute edited version for the non fans
You know what, I'm boycotting any movie from now on that's "based" on anything. Be it a book or a comic or a TV Show or video game or a "reboot" of an old movie series or remake of an old movie or whatever. Give me something original.
Come on...I'd take a "Pan's Labyrinth" or "In Bruges" or "WALL-E" over a "Transformers 1 or 2" or "Batman _____(insert verb here)" or "Warcraft: The Movie".
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Raimi also produces the Legend of the Seeker tv series. Make of THAT what you will!
Doom. That movie just plain awful. I like the rock and his movies but this one should never have gotten off the ground. I look forward to this movie as a player of WOW.
Army of Darkness was closer to a Diablo movie than a WoW movie, if we have to stay in Blizzard's IP...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Sooooo, they can take all three games and make three movies...then reboot the series with new characters from the World of Warcraft campaigns...sooooo...Blizzards trying to launch a big ol' movie cash cow that will last for a decade. I think the Lord of the Rings set a pretty high bar for fantasy films with the sticking point being characters.
While it's still early in the process, does this offer hope that someone might finally make a good movie based on a game IP?
preemptive TL;DR: No.
The breadth of the Warcraft lore makes it impossible to fit even a small percent of it into a single movie. And Blizzard will certainly want to tie the movie into the game somehow, which will only hinder the creativity of whoever is tasked with writing the screenplay. There will probably be an overabundance of cheesy in-jokes to target the gamers, but will just come off as stupid to the average viewer. Visually it will almost certainly look nothing like the CG cut-scenes in Warcraft 3 or World of Warcraft, which is exactly what gamers of WoW will be expecting.
And the final nail in the coffin: This is the same guy who directed Spiderman 3. Imagine Thrall doing the emo dance.
Who's Sam Raimito?:D
I will only watch it if it features a cameo by LeeeeeRoooooooy!!! haha
It actually has very good story lines. Most of the larger stories are based on the Warcraft RTS games. There are many questlines which have their own unique stories and are definitely worth it.
I can never stand playing WoW for more than a month or two. After running through the content and storylines it gets quite boring and repetitive. The gameplay itself isn't compelling enough to stay and the PvP is a joke.
After vanilla WoW there was very little fun to be had in world PvP or in the world at large. Battling for the world bosses, or between tarren mill and southshore were some of the most fun i've had in the game. Not to mention being able to take your own auction house hostage with the mark of shame or bringing a devilsaur from Un'Goro to the crossroads to munch on the lowbies.
If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
Watch the Cinematics from Diablo II again... they're more coherent and better written than 90% of movies out there.
From Horde Commander: You must stop the Alliance from advancing on our position!
From Horde Hero: Uh.. quest is still red.. LOL! kk.. where?
From Horde Commander: You must journey in to the Barrens and stop their march from Ashenvale!
From Horde Hero: LOL! kk.. I accept.
From Horde Hero Buddy: Ya mon.. share kk?
From Horde Hero: LOL too low of lvl!
From Horde Hero Buddy: LOL mon!
From Horde Hero: All 80s! LOL!
*SPLAT*
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
This just gave me an idea for a screen saver. It shows your wow character farming gold. Sometimes, a few horde [alliance] guys jump out and kill your character, and you get to watch it make a spirit run back. Sometimes, some other farmer will train a bunch of mobs onto you. Sometimes you'll miss 32 hits in a row (Warriors only) while poisoned. Sometimes, you will also get guild chat talking about faked moon landings, religion, their current middle school experiences, how much weed/beer they just smoked/drank, and you'll get a pre-pubescent guild leader shouting at everyone over vent. I will charge $60 a year to run it on your computer. It will be everything the real WoW experience gives, except cheaper!
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
I wouldn't normally be terribly interested in a WoW movie, but if Sam Raimi does it, well, perhaps. It's certainly millions of times better than Uwe Boll or Michael Bay. Raimi knows how to make movies fun.
Leeeeeroy Jenkins!
A good movie based on MMORPG game IP has already been made: Ben X revolves around the game Archlord and the real life of some players. Think Rainman meets WoW.
I'm thinking it'll probably end up like this.
The enemies of Democracy are
What, was Uwe Boll too busy?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Plz give a role to Leroy Jerkins!!
After a question in Jeopardy, we need him into this film!
I can't call that English
Like someone said - Bruce will most likely have some role if you get him out of Miami for a bit. But really with Herc/Xena under his belt, this should be old hat for Sam. Just a matter of making the right phone calls to get all the old people back together in some new roles (cameos or main) (RIP Kevin Smith :(
Ted Raimi as Topper McNabb
Lucy Lawless as Jana Proudmore
Renee O'Connor as the head chick in Darnassus
Hudson Leick as human female character in just their underwear
etc...
I wonder how many reviews will compare it to LotR - Orcs vs Men, albeit with the Orcs being more of a proper character instead of just generic bad guys.
I doubt it will be as much of a grind as sitting through Transformers 2.
MOD UP! (the cauldron is also in Searing Gorge, further adding to the hilarity).
Interesting.
He practically invented the badass heroe. Shotgun and chainsaw anyone?
Expect broken mirrors, silly jokes, weird camera angles and cameos of Bruce Campbell and his Oldsmobile Delta 88 (although I'm not sure how he's going to include it in a WarCraft movie)
BTW, the article doesn't specify that it's World of Warcraft, just that it happens in the Warcraft universe. I know this is /. but the editors or the poster could actually read the title of TFA.
Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?
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While I liked the Silent Hill movie and the first Resident Evil one aswell. I thought there wasn't any connection between Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and any of the Final Fantasy Games. I liked the movie but I thought it was completely disconnected from the games.
I too liked the Silent Hill movie. I found it captured the look and feel of the game, and enjoyed that they weren't so bound by canon in the adaptation. I've never felt like I was so trapped in a fever dream before in a movie. It was like a European art film masquerading as a Hollywood movie -- maybe that's why it worked for me.
he specifically asked to insert a verb, so The Dark Knight is excluded... anyway, I respectfully disagree. Haven't watched in Bruges, Transformers 1 was adequately funny, 2 was a piece of crap, but both Wall-E and Pan's Labyrinth are excellent movies, at least as good as TDK, and possibly better. For once they actually make sense whereas TDK not always does so.
Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
Regardless of the quality, I'm sure they'll be able to get people to watch the movie (or buy the DVD), if they include a code for a sufficiently nifty in-game item as a premium.
If they have a different premium for movie and DVD, I'm sure you'll be able to get people to do both. Or hey, how about multiple collector versions of the DVD...
Now, a movie that I would see. People getting ganked for begging. Gold farmers going toe to toe with legitimate people. Constant bitching between peasants. Parties falling apart because the only tank as to go clean his room.
It would be a riot.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
And hire a good director, like blade runner. Also: scale models > computer graphics. Unless the entire movie is computer graphics, then it is acceptable.
They already made that: http://progressquest.com/
They should let Uwe Boll direct it, just for the hilarity of watching him box everyone that hates it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So Sam's making a movie based on a game that quotes one of his own most famous lines. I've nothing insightful to add here, i just found that funny and a little strange. It'll never happen, but i wouldn't mind Mr. Campbell with a shotgun in there somewhere....
That which does not kill us makes us... st
MOD UP! (the cauldron is also in Searing Gorge, further adding to the hilarity).
It's actually one of the jokes you can tell if you type /joke in the game console.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
I'm hoping it will have the chat scrolling on the left side of the screen.
WooHoo! 2.5 hours of replaying old Barrens chat from the server logs.
MOD UP! (the cauldron is also in Searing Gorge, further adding to the hilarity).
It's actually one of the jokes you can tell if you type /joke in the game console.
I... am aware of this :)
http://www.wowwiki.com/Jokes
I just tried to point out the little bit of irony.
Interesting.
I am a long time WoW player and a RPG nut and this doesn't interest me in the slightest. Not really sure why but as much as I like playing WoW, the so-called storyline is sadly lacking, and where it is thick enough to actually involve yourself it is uniformly bad. That said, when I get done posting here and checking my email, I'm gonna login and check my AH toon, and run some daily quests.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Well, if that's your poison, then you need to know, even the undead fear... The Goon!
Oh, and also, kawaii.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
This requires picking of villains in a way not to alienate half your audience.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Leroy Jenkins is the protagonist.
As in all mainstream Sam Raimi movies, Bruce Campbell will have a breif cameo. He's rumored to be playing Leeroy Jenkins.
This sig is false.
What the hell is wrong with the mods here? We're discussing Sam Raimi, and quotes from Army Of Darkness are off topic?
Sam Raimi doesn't exactly have a better record than Michael Bay tbh... I think they're both B- class directors... Both spiderman movies might have been a huge success - but the movies basically sucked big time. I never understood why so many people think they're good... Same goes for transformers...
The only good 'comic book' movies I've seen were Sin City and X-Men 1&2. Ironman also surprised me. The others? Mediocre at most. I've seen them all in the theaters, but a lot of them don't deserve to spend any money on.
Anyway - both Sam Raimi's movies and WoW don't interest me - so I don't really care he would make a WoW movie :)
What, was Uwe Boll too busy?
He was very explicitly denied the right to make this movie because he sucks. Or so Blizzard said.
Sam Raimi doesn't exactly have a better record than Michael Bay tbh... I think they're both B- class directors... Both spiderman movies might have been a huge success - but the movies basically sucked big time.
Who cares about Spiderman? Has Michael Bay ever made something like Evil Dead? Army of Darkness? Drag Me To Hell?
Sounds like the solution for that particular game is to have semi-private servers that are admined by the users themselves. Not roleplaying? You get booted by a user admin.
He didn't become a popular director for directing Spider-Man. He became a popular director for directing horror movies--specifically the Evil Dead Trilogy.
Spider-Man just made him popular in the mainstream.
Same thing with Peter Jackson. I knew his as a director of horror movies long before he directed Lord of the Rings.