Sam Raimi to Direct 'World of Warcraft' Film

[superintelligentone]

The acclaimed director of the Spiderman movies, has been signed to direct The World of Warcraft film.

http://www.switched....-warcraft-film/

Sam Raimi to Direct 'World of Warcraft' Film
by Caleb Johnson - Jul 22nd 2009 at 2:56PM

Listen close. What's that sound? It's the collective squeal of millions of nerds around the world. This generation's 'Dungeons & Dragons' will finally make its way to the big screen, and, for at least one day, keyboards won't clack and monitors will go black.

Variety reports that Sam Raimi will direct the live-action film version of 'World of Warcraft'. Raimi, who also directed 'The Evil Dead,' will begin work on the film after he completes Spiderman 4. Warner Bros. is set to distribute the film, and it will be financed under Legendary Pictures -- the same tag featured on 'Watchmen' and' The Hangover.' It sounds to us like Blizzard Entertainment found the perfect folks to commit its worldwide-hit game to celluloid. Raimi has plenty of nerd cred from his previous work, and Warner Bros. will surely push for the film to become a summer blockbuster.

But don't get too excited. It'll be quite a while before the 'Warcraft' universe hits theaters. It's not all bad, though. That just gives gamers plenty of time to play that latest 'WoW' expansion pack and, best of all, time to design the perfect 'WoW' costume to wear at the midnight screening.

http://www.variety.c...egoryid=13&cs=1

Sam Raimi plays 'Warcraft'
- Director signs on for live-action adaptation of vidgame
By Michael Fleming

Sam Raimi has signed on to direct "Warcraft," the live-action film adaptation of the fantasy videogame franchise "World of Warcraft."Legendary Pictures and vidgame publisher Blizzard Entertainment are mounting the film, and Warner Bros. will co-finance and distribute. The team boasts an impressive pedigree: In addition to the director of "Spider-Man," the partners have added "The Dark Knight" producer Charles Roven to the creative mix.

The plan is for Raimi to supervise development of "Warcraft" and shoot the picture after he completes work on "Spider-Man 4," which gets under way early next year for Columbia Pictures.

The movie will be financed under the Legendary Pictures' co-production and co-financing deal with WB, in a manner similar to the Todd Phillips-directed "The Hangover" plus the Roven-produced "Batman Begins" and "Dark Knight."

The "Warcraft" universe features an epic conflict between the Horde and the Alliance. The game has developed a global following since its launch in 1994 and shows no signs of slowing. Its most recent expansion, "Wrath of the Lich King," sold more than 2.8 million copies in the first day of release and more than 4 million its first month.

"Warcraft" is "emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which our studio is best known," said Warner Bros. Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov. The deal revives a long-dormant pact made by Legendary and Blizzard for a film adaptation of the game (Daily Variety, May 8, 2006).

"At its core, 'Warcraft' is a fantastic, action-packed story," Raimi said in a statement.

Raimi most recently directed "Drag Me to Hell."

Roven and his Atlas producing partner Alex Gartner will produce with Legendary's CEO Thomas Tull and chief creative officer Jon Jashni, Raimi and his producing partner, Joshua Donen. Rob Tapert will be executive producer, and Blizzard senior VP of creative development Chris Metzen will be co-producer.

 

[Margo-W]

I'm looking forward to this one

 

[dol123]

I'm also getting excited to watch this.....