So as many of you have or have not heard, Duncan Jones’
Warcraft has wrapped filming. When this film was announced, it ended years of will-they-won’t-they speculation on the part of World of Warcraft players in regards to the rumored movie. Years of whisperings, names being dropped, and pieces coming together. At one point, the future of the film looked secure, as the
Spider-Man trilogy’s Sam Raimi was attached to direct. I remember a period in 2009 when Raimi was even giving World of Warcraft interviews. It seemed like he was enthusiastic about the project, and the movie appeared to finally have solid footing.
That obviously fell through the floor. Raimi dropped out to pursue
Oz the Great and Powerful and the World of Warcraft movie again fell into development hell. Last year, the project was finally made official, and with filming done, we are now guaranteed our long awaited Warcraft movie.
“Filming on the World of Warcraft movie is finished.” There’s an odd feeling to that sentence. It may be my own butterflies because I’ve spent a considerable amount of my life in Azeroth, or it could be my inner film-buff proclaiming that this is all coming together a bit fast. I can only vaguely recall the entire cast being announced, and principal photography is already wrapped? I’m sure that the producers and what not know what they’re doing when it comes to scheduling, so the question of how much post production this movie needs comes into play. The film isn’t due out until March 11
th, 2016. With that date in mind, as well as the general feel of Azeroth and all the fantastical characters they will need to render, I’m sure the film will be heavy in CGI and motion capture.
Night elves, orcs, trolls, hell-maybe even a few of the human characters will need to be rendered with decently spectacular CGI in order for the film to have any credibility at all. Seriously, this movie can live and die with the look of the night elves. They’re one of the most popular races in the game, and one of the only races known to the general non-WoW playing public. The orcs too, require a certain aesthetic that Jones and his producers will need to nail. The filmmakers should look to Blizzard’s iconic game cinematics for the look and feel of an orc. They need to contrast greatly with their human foe, but also be relatable and worthy of empathy.
This is something that the film will have a hard time with. Casting the orc, troll, and other horde “monster” races as anything but evil will be one of Jones’ biggest challenges. It is so important that the audience does not immediately hate the pre-Horde races, as this is not the case in the video game. In World of Warcraft, the orcs and their followers are not evil; they are not the dark side like so many people would assume. Instead, they possess some of the richest lore and characters; characters that transcend their race to evoke true human emotion from the player. In fact, many of the human lore characters from the game are the truly evil ones-although bad guys exist on both sides. If the film nails the dynamic between orcs and humans, then it will definitely be a worthy watch.
I and millions of other WoW players will be incredibly disappointed if this film is terrible because it would erase years of pining for it. The franchise would be equivalent to that of Green Lantern, stuck. It would perhaps be even bitterer because of all the anticipation, the years of will-they-won’t-they and the endless flood of rumors. Right now, as the movie enters post production, it stands at a crossroads. The next few months will decide the fate of the project, as we will no doubt get our first looks at some of the characters, as well as a little more insight into the story. As these developments happen, I will be sure to lend my thoughts. Until then, lok’tar ogar!
Warcraft is directed by Duncan Jones from a script by Jones and Charles Leavitt starring Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Daniel Cudmore, Clancy Brown, Robert Kazinsky and Daniel Wu. The film is due out March 11
th, 2016.