World of Warcraft is a weird game in that all of my friends who obsessively play it aren’t rank and file nerds. I know guys whose diets are mainly made up of coke, booze and pussy who log hours a night playing WOW. Actually, it’s also a weird game because it’s so unbelievably boring and yet so many people play it so much. I did the 30 day free trial and quit about 15 days in; how many hours does anyone want to spend in a forest collecting a whole shitload of pelts just to finish some lame low level quest? This isn’t a game, it’s an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
But the game is huge –the online population of World of Warcraft will soon overtake the real world population of Sweden – and that means there’s plenty of money to be made in things like movies. This past weekend was BlizzCon, a convention dedicated to all things Blizzard (the company that makes World of Warcraft and Starcraft and Diablo), and details of the long-talked about WOW movie were discussed.
Producer Thomas Tull (one of the producers on 300) said that Legendary Pictures is committing over 100 million dollars to the film, and they’re looking for a director on par with Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan (what these guys have in common as filmmakers is beyond me, except that geeks like them and mentioning their names may create good buzz). The film, which is now being scripted, is being looked at as a 2009 release, but I can’t even begin to imagine that actually happening. Too soon, as they say.
The current plan is to set the movie about a year before the start of the game, and it will not be quest oriented (thank Christ) but rather war oriented. Says Tull: “It’s actually not like the great adventure. It’s not so much a quest movie. It’s more of a war movie. Well, okay, it’s absolutely a war movie. Cultures grinding up to a horrible moment where it just all spills over and gets out of control. Less of an adventure party quest-type situation. More of an armies building to an inevitable conclusion type situation.”
Ooh, grinding. Now THAT’S fun. The movie will take place from the Alliance POV. Explains Tull: “While my heart lies with the Horde and Thrall’s an interesting character, from a movie making standpoint, a blockbuster movie its a little rough to try and tell it from the perspective of this green looking dude.”
Above you’ll see some concept art for the film. I guess this is exciting for WOW players, but to me it looks like a big tree with lights on it. For more info, visit the Warcraft Movie Chronicles site.