In terms of execution and perception, many movies based on games have come up short, but the Warcraft film will be different, Blizzard Entertainment believes. Speaking with GameSpot today at BlizzCon, COO Paul Sams explained why the Warcraft film will not suffer the same fate.
“At the end of the day, because we recognize that there has not been–I’m sorry to say–a spectacular video game movie, we wanted to make sure that we didn’t rush it and we didn’t just try to push something out and do wrong things,” Sams said.
“And we also made this decision that we don’t want to make a video game movie. What we wanted to make is a great fantasy movie that the source material happens to be coming from a video game franchise,” he added. “Just like other great fantasy movies came from other types of source material.”
Sams explained that Blizzard has partnered with the right people to ensure that the Warcraft film does not fall on its face like some of those that have come before it.
“So what we’ve done is we’ve really spent a lot of time trying to make sure that the screenplay is great, that we partner with the right people that have tremendous experience of success and understanding how to connect with the audience and create an incredible story and incredibly deep characters.”
The Warcraft film is in production at Legendary Pictures, the studio behind Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman movies, as well as 300 and The Hangover series. Blizzard did not simply farm out the film to Legendary, though. Sams explained that Blizzard has worked side-by-side with Legendary from the beginning, encompassing everything from casting to costume design. Every part of the process has been collaborative, Sams said.
“We’re really excited about, we believe in the team, and we think that come 2015, we’re going to have something special,” Sams said.
In the director’s chair for the Warcraft movie is Duncan Jones (Moon), who is “talented as hell,” according to Sams. “This is his big, big kind of coming out party,” Sams said.
Jones “understands” the Warcraft franchise and has played every Blizzard game, and not just to prepare for this job directing the movie, Sams said.
“He knows us, he gets us, he’s one of us, and he’s committed,” he said.
Jones will discuss the Warcraft movie tomorrow at 1 p.m. during a special BlizzCon panel. The Warcraft movie opens December 18, 2015.
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