BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® AND LEGENDARY PICTURES TO PRODUCE LIVE-ACTION WARCRAFT®

[cebu_tux]

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BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® AND LEGENDARY PICTURES TO PRODUCE LIVE-ACTION WARCRAFT®

Fantasy game franchise played by millions worldwide to become major motion picture

IRVINE, Calif. -- May 9, 2006 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop a live-action film based on Blizzard Entertainment®'s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Based on the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the movie rights for the best-selling game universe, and both companies are now focused on translating the high-quality Warcraft entertainment experience to the big screen.

"We searched for a very long time to find the right studio for developing a movie based on one of our game universes," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "Many companies approached us in the past, but it wasn't until we met with Legendary Pictures that we felt we'd found the perfect partner. They clearly share our high standards for creative development, and because they understand the vision that we've always strived for with our Warcraft games, we feel there isn't a better studio out there for bringing the Warcraft story to film."

"One of our goals at Legendary Pictures has been to bring heroic stories to life in groundbreaking ways, and it's inspiring to work with a company such as Blizzard that takes that approach with each of its products," stated Legendary Pictures chairman and CEO Thomas Tull. "The Warcraft universe is possessed of such a rich mythology and, as such, serves as an ideal platform as we go about translating that universe into what we intend to be a major event film."

Blizzard's Warcraft games have developed a loyal following since the series debuted in 1994. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness™, released in 1995, won multiple Game of the Year awards and is still considered one of the best games ever made, and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos™ broke multiple sales records when it launched in 2002. World of Warcraft®, Blizzard's latest entry in the critically acclaimed franchise, has quickly become one of the world's most popular online games, with more than 6 million paying customers worldwide.

"From our first Warcraft game to our latest novels, our intention has always been to develop a rich fantasy universe that could support stories and products in many forms," stated Chris Metzen, Blizzard Entertainment's vice president of creative development. "In addition to being a truly rewarding experience for us, the creation of this motion picture also feels like a natural next step for the Warcraft universe."

"It's not always the case that interactive game properties lend themselves to proper adaptation to film," said Jon Jashni, Legendary Pictures' chief creative officer. "We are intending to approach this as we would the adaptation of a best-selling novel: respect the essence of all that it is but also build upon that fertile base while translating it into a new medium."

Further details about the upcoming Warcraft movie, including director, cast, and targeted release date, will be revealed in the months ahead.

World of Warcraft Movie?

Written by Danny Wallace

Blizzard, the creators of World of Warcraft announced on Tuesday that they were planning to announce a deal for a World of Warcraft movie. After the Doom movie, will this be a travesty of movie making history?

The deal is to be made with Legendary Pictures, an affiliate of Warner Bros.

There is a sad history when it comes to making movies from software games; take Streetfighter, or Doom. Very seldom can the storyline of video game be translated to the big screen with much success. World of Warcraft seems to be headed down the same street with its announcement today that it would be announcing a deal for a World of Warcraft movie at E3.

The software developers can hardly be blamed: World of Warcraft is one of the most successful games in the history of computer gaming and with over six million players online, the temptation to make a movie out of the game seems too irresistable. Blizzard's vision is to make a movie on the scale of it's games, and one is drawn to comparisons to the Lord of the Ring trilogy. The Lord of the Ring Trilogy was a massive undertaking that was affordable, partly due to its location in New Zealand.

No details have as yet been made known concerning choice of the director, release date or budget. However, Legendary Pictures does have decent financial backing of over US$500 million dollars and it lends itself to reason that Legendary Pictures sees money in the idea of a World of Warcraft movie. Will World of Warcraft be consigned to the scrapheap before going into production? Lets hope so.

[geetarista]

Grabi ni kng madayon...

[godCode]

yeah. pero manyta lagi ang katong ga direct sa LOTR muy mo direct pud ani kay kung lain, basin bati na kaayo.

[geetarista]

yep.. kelangan jud ug maayo na director ug cast.. unsa pa kaha ning tuiga mu gawas..?

[Nezumix22]

yeah... wow talaga..

[pobre]

maytag big epic motion picture jud like LOTR...i would prefer a trilogy para every year paabuton jud....

[StyM]

hopefully it wont suck..

[Visual C#]

Nah, it will suck... I'd prefer if it was an entirely CGI feature (entirely feasible IMO), so that they can have freedom of expression. They can turn it into a DVD-only release as well, to cut down costs in marketing the whole thing. Other people who haven't heard of WoW will be quick to draw comparisons with LoTR, and say that "it's a cheap rip-off".

So I wouldn't support this 100%. Personally, I'd prefer a Starcraft movie, of course done in CGI.

[jumps_zilla]

CGI CGI!

[Visual C#]

I'd personally like to see the final battle between Prince Arthas and Illidan Stormrage done in full CGI, rather than that cheap, 3D game engine-based ending in WC:TFT (if you've completed the WC:TFT campaign, you'll know what I'm talking about).