Few game movies are more anticipated than the World of Warcraft film, given the franchise's long history and large fan base. Blizzard vice president of creative development Chris Metzen has had his hand on the wheel of the Warcraft franchise since the beginning, and while anticipation might be high, he's not rushing the World of Warcraft movie.
“We’ve been through a number of story meetings, and we’re still kind of getting it together with [Sam] Raimi and his team and jamming on themes that we want to chase,” said Metzen to VG247. “We’re kinda getting a lot of values together – what kind of story we want to tell, what do we want people to feel, what is the best way to look at this big franchise. We had had some script iterations previous to Raimi coming on board that were cool, that had some really good bits – sometimes a little too overcooked or a little too undercooked. We’re still trying to feel out that space, so as he came in he wanted to have fresh eyes and look at the content of Warcraft in such a way as to dig out what will most people feel: 'Oh, I get it, that matches my expectations when I played.'”
“You can aim the camera in a hundred different directions in a place like Warcraft so it’s kind of finding that right one,” he added. “But in terms of division of time, or whatever, it doesn’t take up a tremendous amount of time these days. It’s really just strategic phone calls or strategic meetings from time to time until things really get moving on the Hollywood side.”
When asked if he's worried about disappointing fans with the World of Warcraft movie, Metzen responded, “I don’t have specific concerns that weigh at this moment. I have… from the day we decided it would be a good idea to have a movie in any shape… I worry about that stuff constantly. Hell, I worry about it on the games side. It’s all so complicated and fast moving – I have nightmares about screwing it up or just missing the mark. Even a movie that’s 85% good; that’s not 100% good, and our fans are very particular. But the point where we are today, with Sam and his crew – we’re still feeling it out and I think everyone shares that.”
“Nobody wants to screw it up: we all want to hit it hard and have it be something that is as resonant and canonical as it can be,” he continued. “But given what Warcraft is, with all these moving parts, we’re going to have to take some liberties here and there. I’m under no illusions about that fact, but it’s the spirit in which you do that. You know – organic web shooters versus [Spider-man] Peter Parker’s science lab mechanical web shooters. Sometimes you have to break with convention, and I’m sure that we will. I don’t know where or how, but we’re still feeling that out. I don’t have any cause for worry right now, but I can tell you I’m fundamentally worried about screwing it up – but we picked the best partners we could find.”
The World of Warcraft movie seems like as good a gaming property as any to make into a movie especially given the talent brought in on both sides, but the Halo movie also seemed like a sure shot a few years ago, so we'll just have to see how things pan out.
