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I was really looking forward to seeing Sam Raimi's vision of World of Warcraft, but as you know, it didn't work out. There were no clear details at the time on why Raimi's project fell apart, but now Source Code director Duncan Jones is on board to bring it to life, which is equally as exciting for me. Jones is a great director, and I'm excited to see what his vision is. In a recent interview with Vulture Raimi was asked what he thought about Jones directing the movie to which he replied,
I loved his movie Moon, and I think he's a strikingly talented director. I bet that if anyone can do a great job with it, it's him.
The director was then asked what the biggest ostacle was for him in making the movie, and he basically blamed Blizzard for their lack of communication.
Robert Rodat was working on the script, and it was taking a long time. I think they were getting a little antsy at Legendary, the production company. Actually, what happened was even more complicated, so let me go back a little bit. First, they asked me if I wanted to make it, and I said, "Yes, I love World of Warcraft, and I think it would make a great picture." So I read a screenplay they had that was written by the guys at [Warcraft developer] Blizzard, and it didn't quite work for me. I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert, so we pitched it to Legendary and they accepted it, and then we pitched it to Blizzard, and they had reservations, but they accepted it. Then Robert wrote the screenplay, and only once he was done did we realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn't know that. And they had never quite approved the original story we pitched them. Those reservations were their way of saying, "We don't approve this story, and we want to go a different way," so after we had spent nine months working on this thing, we basically had to start over. And Robert did start over, but it was taking too long for the people at Blizzard, and their patience ran out. Honestly, I think it was mismanagement on their behalf, not to explain to us that the first story was vetoed long ago. Why did they let us keep working on it? Were they afraid to tell me?
I'm not sure why Blizzard would do that and waste the time of these people, but that's exactly what they did. Obviously Blizzard isn't used to working in the movie business. Hopefully their communication is a lot better with Jones. I would hate to find out that this movie has been scrapped once again. Raimi also went on to talk about how his Spider-Man 4 movie fell apart as well saying,
It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn't get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn't get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, "I don't want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn't make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you've been planning anyway." And [Sony co-chairman] Amy Pascal said, "Thank you. Thank you for not wasting the studio's money, and I appreciate your candor." So we left on the best of terms, both of us trying to do the best thing for fans, the good name of Spider-Man, and Sony Studios.
In the end Webb made a great movie, and I'm excited for the upcoming sequel. As for the World of Warcraft movie, hopefully it gets the epically badass adaptation that it deserves.
