At Blizzcon 2007, Blizzard executives Paul Sams and Chris Metzen as well as Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull and Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni gave a presentation and held a short Q+A session to answer the crowds questions and to throw the press just enough to let them know that the project is very much alive.
One thing was clear after it all ended. Blizzard are not intending to make another PC game movie but rather an epic story that just so happens to based on lore created for a PC game initially. If we know anything about the Warcraft lore, we know that it is now shaped by far more than the PC games. Novels, comics and even cinematics have been labelled cannon by Blizzard so this just goes to show that this really isn't a PC to big screen conversion.
Another thing that was clear is the epic proportions Blizzard are going to, to make sure this movie is not only a massive success to the already-established fan base but also a massive success to the wider audience who haven't experience Warcraft yet. This is evident from the whopping $100 million budget that's been assigned to it as well as the comparisons to, "300, and, "Gladiator." Warcraft has a lot to live up to, being one of the tent pole movies for 2009.
What amused me was the description Metzen gave for the Warcraft movie, saying it was a, "war," movie. What does this mean? Well clearly it means we are going to be seeing epic battle scenes on a massive scale and this prospects impresses me. They did say, "Lord of the Rings," lots and this was very dangerous ground to tread in my opinion. If they take to much inspiration from the battle scenes in, "Lord of the Rings," the may be accused of copying the material and not giving us Warcraft-specific battle scenes. Then again, I've been playing WoW for a very long time and my idea of a Warcraft-specific battle scene is 8 hours in Alterac Valley. Ah, the good old days - the days when HK farming was perfectly fine because everyone else was doing it.
That leads me to my point. Will there be any familiar battles in this new movie? It would be amazing to see what Legendary think Arathi Basin or Warsong Gultch would look like in their view and I'd love to see Alterac Valley make an appearance in the movie so is it such an outrageous concept? I don't think so. None of the battlegrounds focus on anything other than the Horde v Alliance equation and don't really have massive lore behind them. In fact, they add to the lore, defining the major battles between the two factions. In my eyes, it would be criminal to leave these out and the movies should have at least one in there, at least for nostalgias sake. Come on, Metzen - do a kid a favor.
At the end of the day and as with all Blizzard projects, you never know what to expect. This movie could be a massive success, topping box office sales all over the world. On the other hand, it could be a complete flop.
We shall just have to wait and see but this gamer has one thing to say - say YES to AV for the Warcraft Movie!
