BlizzCon 2013: WARCRAFT Movie Panel Highlights - Lothar Vs Durotan

BlizzCon 2013: WARCRAFT Movie Panel Highlights - Lothar Vs Durotan

BlizzCon 2013 kicked off its Warcraft movie panel today which included director Duncan Jones and members of his film crew and a couple of Blizzard Entertainment executives.

By MarkJulian - Nov 09, 2013 04:11 PM EST
Filed Under: Warcraft
Source: VideoGameFilms.com
Warcraft movie Lothar vs Durotan

While there were no casting announcements at the BlizzCon 2013 panel for the Warcraft movie from Universal Pictures. There were quite a bit of story elements revealed about the upcoming video game adaptation which will be directed by Duncan Jones. The script for the film was written by Charles Leavitt (Blood Diamond, Seventh Son). Attending the panel were Jones (director), Chris Metzen (Blizzard Senior VP of Story and Franchise Development @ Blizzard), Rob Pardo (Chief Creative Officer @ Blizzard), Bill Westenoffer (SFX supervisor) and Nick Carpenter (VP of Cinematics @ Blizzard).

  • Firstly and most importantly, the movie is "Humans vs Orcs".  Although it's implied that other races of the Alliance and Horde will feature as well. But the conflict between humans and orcs will be at the center of the film. Specifically, it's Lothor vs Durotan, with both leaders believing they're acting in the best interest for their people.

  • Secondly, and what's most promising, is that director Duncan Jones is a longtime Warcraft fan.  Having started out on Ultima Online, he's played a lot of WoW games along with many of the key members of the cast.

  • Hence, when Duncan boarded the project, the script was very Alliance heavy so one of the first things he set out to do was strike up a balance between Alliance AND Horde.

  • The film is described as Avatar meet Games of Thrones.

  • Concept art for Draenor, Dalaran, Ironforge and Stormwind was shown so expect to travel to those locales in the film.

  • The production team is trying to build as many physical sets as possible and overly rely on vfx.  The Lions Pride Inn was specifically named as being a location that will be physically built as a set.

  • They style of the film is described as a war movie, with Gladiator being used as an example.

  • There was a lot of talk about the level of detail the film is seeking to achieve like how to draw swords since there are no scabbards in World of Warcraft. The humans will wield very big swords.   There have been serious discussions about the type of bark on trees in Elwynn Forest [so there's serious world building discussion going on].   The vfx team that worked on the Hulk in the Avengers will be working on Warcraft.  Wei Wang (Blizzard) has also helped out a lot with creature design.

  • They have "lots of cast" picked out but again, there were no announcements.

  • A questions about a trilogy was quickly shot down as they're just focusing on the first film at the moment and nothing else.

  • If the film is successful, Metzen said maybe they'll do a tv show one day.

  • The film will be PG-13.
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And while no casting rumors were confirmed or denied, it's been previously reported that Paula Patton (2 Guns), Colin Farrell (Seven Psychopaths) and Travis Fimmel (History Channel's Vikings) have signed up for lead roles. Also rumored to be up for parts in the film were Anton Yelchin (Star Trek Into Darkness) and Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels). Filming begins in January though so expect official casting announcements to come soon. The film is currently slated for release on December 18t,2015 - the same day as Star Wars: Episode VII. Expect that date to change.

CONCEPT ART:





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jerryblake
jerryblake - 11/9/2013, 4:39 PM
Fingers crossed. If this movie turns out to be hit (in both artistic and financial way) i don't see any problem to focus on another fantasy games adaptation after.

Baldur's Gate perhaps ...
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/9/2013, 4:58 PM
loved duncan jones first two movies (moon is great,check it out if you haven't seen it)very excited about seeing this.
ajizzle4658
ajizzle4658 - 11/9/2013, 5:03 PM
this actually looks really good, alot of faith in this
rg7620
rg7620 - 11/9/2013, 5:04 PM
Going to use a story not many people know about. It's going to be great!
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 11/9/2013, 5:21 PM
This movie could actually turn out amazing! We could be looking at the first great videogame adaption.
JGAR
JGAR - 11/9/2013, 5:27 PM
The only problem is that this comes out the SAME day as Star Wars Episode VII!
mctrinket
mctrinket - 11/9/2013, 5:37 PM
Gimmie some Frostmourne or GTFO!
jerryblake
jerryblake - 11/9/2013, 5:41 PM
@ALegendaryPanda


Besides the first Resident Evil and Street Fighter: Animated Movie (i would also like to add Tekken: The Movie to that list) there weren't any good video games adaptations at all.




Max Payne
Street Fighter
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Resident Evil 2
Silent Hill

just to name a few shitwrecks ...

Mortal Kombat was good once it came out, but the movie itself aged really badly. MK2 is not worth mentioning here (like at all)

I think Resident Evil: Degenaration was the nail to the coffin.
jerryblake
jerryblake - 11/9/2013, 5:42 PM
Final nail.
MightyZeus
MightyZeus - 11/9/2013, 5:45 PM
Kind of worried but i dont know how this'll turn out. Could be good could be terrible.
DelTorite
DelTorite - 11/9/2013, 5:55 PM
Bring the WC jokes.
I still have hopes for this movie, specially now that they are focusing on the story of RTS not the mmo crap.
TheOneAboveAll
TheOneAboveAll - 11/9/2013, 6:00 PM
I am fanboying THIS MIGHT BE AWESOME!
Mrsinister
Mrsinister - 11/9/2013, 6:02 PM
I'm super excited!
BlackIceJoe
BlackIceJoe - 11/9/2013, 6:11 PM
I really hope this is good. I want more fantasy swords & sorcery movies. I will be getting to see the Hobbit later this year and the next. Plus there is the movie Seventh Son which I hope will be good too. So I hope Warcraft is a great movie. Then Blizzard will allow a Starcraft movie to come out.
TheOneAboveAll
TheOneAboveAll - 11/9/2013, 6:24 PM
They are going to get killed at the box office... but it will be #2 while Star Wars will be #1 for at least 4 weeks straight
MegatronLP9
MegatronLP9 - 11/9/2013, 6:32 PM
I wonder if Henry Cavill would like to be in it. He's a big fan
Havenless
Havenless - 11/9/2013, 10:32 PM
Any other Warcraft lore gurus out there?

If this is set around the time of Orcs vs. Humans, why is Dalaran floating?
loki668
loki668 - 11/9/2013, 11:35 PM
Directed by Uwe Boll.
Seejay
Seejay - 11/10/2013, 1:36 AM

Like that they pay homage to the games that started the genre.

Warcraft II: Orcs and Humans, II: Tides of darkness (beyond the dark portal).

A trilogy would be natural in that sense.
Danbojohnj
Danbojohnj - 11/10/2013, 2:55 AM
Sounds great,never played WOW but orcs are always elcome.
WorstUserNameEver
WorstUserNameEver - 11/10/2013, 3:33 AM
Yeah hopefully it'll do good numbers and then Hollywood'll realize that fantasy minus Tolkien can work... then maybe we can get the Wheel of Time!
AlexDeLarge87
AlexDeLarge87 - 11/10/2013, 4:02 AM
This is gonna be so huge. R rated lord of the rings. Blood and guts and rolling heads. :)... I hope.
Jimmyquickfingers
Jimmyquickfingers - 11/10/2013, 4:02 AM
Played WoW. Never really held my interist gameplay and storyline. final fantasy A realm Reborn or even Aion Tower of Eternity has a much more interesting storyline I think.
loki668
loki668 - 11/10/2013, 4:08 AM
I never liked WoW. Having said that, I like the idea that some of you have mentioned in making it more like an "R-Rated Lord of the Rings." Now, THAT would be something to see.
Superman007
Superman007 - 11/10/2013, 4:14 AM
i always thought the cut scenes and CG trailers would make for an awesome movie so i`m looking forward to this. Never played the game.
Malcopunch
Malcopunch - 11/10/2013, 4:19 AM
If this gets a sequel we could see the Adaptation of Warcraft 3 and the Rise of the Lich King..think about that for a second..
loki668
loki668 - 11/10/2013, 4:41 AM
They just need to make sure and pump the brakes before the [frick]ing pandas show up!
Danbojohnj
Danbojohnj - 11/10/2013, 5:08 AM
@Worstusernamever you know,I won't be happy until I get Dumai Wells on the big screen!
OdinsMissingEye
OdinsMissingEye - 11/10/2013, 5:31 AM
The good thing about making a movie like this is it already has a massive fanbase, I think there is something like 10 million people that are subscribed to this game and many that have previously played before, so that would guarantee at least 200 million dollars opening week at the box office and if the movie is good enough a lot more, though the movie will never create the multi billions of dollars the games have made it still should do pretty well I think.
Starlight
Starlight - 11/10/2013, 6:21 AM
Soundslike this movie will have EVERYTHING I want !!!!
Seejay
Seejay - 11/10/2013, 6:38 AM
@Seejay - 11/10/2013, 1:36 AM

I mean Warcraft 1. :)

Awesome soundtrack.

Kyos
Kyos - 11/10/2013, 7:07 AM
God, I loved Warcraft 2 and it's soundtrack!! :D

I liked Warcraft 3 as well, but I don't care for WoW at all. Not sure yet how I feel about this movie.
loki668
loki668 - 11/10/2013, 9:16 AM
@Danbojohnj and WorstUserNameEver

I would burn down the world if it meant that someone made an epic out of the Wheel of Time! To see the battle of Dumai Wells would be amazing! The final battle would be a shitstorm!!
efcamachopmp
efcamachopmp - 11/10/2013, 4:52 PM
I can easily see how Paula Patton would fit into an Orc role. This is to far back in its history to have Lady Sylvana as an Undead (which would have been my original peg for her role). I can also see a young Malfurion Stormrage in Anson Mount...

I'm extremely excited about this film!
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