Duncan Jones' Warcraft

[Octoberist]

I think I wasn't that clear in my second paragraph. I meant MI 5.

Warcraft is now a 2016 release.

 

[Amaranth Sparro]

Just came across this thread and decided to register and share some plot details with some of the people that are a bit less familiar with the Warcraft franchise.

First off, at Blizzcon 2013 they revealed that it would be an adaptation of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and the male leads are Anduin Lothar and Durotan.

Anduin Lothar is, at this point in the story, the Knight Champion of Stormwind, one of the key soldiers in the war against the Orcish Horde. There isn't any recent artwork for his appearance in the First War era, but for what it's worth, I'd say Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrook in Vikings is actually pretty spot on. Same hairstyle and everything.

Durotan, Chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan, is mainly famous for being the father of Thrall, one of the most important leaders in the current era of Warcraft lore. Durotan did not actually appear in the first two Warcraft games, but was retroactively introduced and fleshed out in Warcraft III and the novel Rise of the Horde as part of Blizzard's push to make the orcs into a more nuanced and sympathetic race.

Possible Sequel Spoilers: Both of these characters end up getting killed during the Second War.


Some other major figures that we can expect to see on both sides are:

Alliance: Khadgar, Aegwynn

Horde: Garona, Draka, Orgrim Doomhammer

Most likely villains for the film will be the orcish warchief Blackhand, the orcish warlock Gul'dan, and the human warlock Medivh.

And, though the high elves, dwarves, trolls, and ogres don't actually show up in the lore until the Second War, as the war between Horde and Alliance encompasses the rest of the Eastern Kingdoms, I wouldn't be surprised to see some in the film.

 

[Octoberist]

Very very informative! Thanks.

 

[Dr. Evil]

So, Paula Patton as Aegwynn?

 

[mclay18]

I'm surprised Legendary isn't taking a leaf out of WB's playbook and didn't move the release date up from December 2015 to October. Gravity shows you can have a big tentpole film in that month that isn't a horror or Halloween-themed film. (And they would still have plenty of time for post-production, provided the shooting duration is 4-6 months and allow a year for post.)

March 2016 is a good choice though.

 

[terry78]

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/daniel-wu-clancy-brown-world-of-warcraft-movie/

Clancy Brown is joining the cast. **** yes.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Gooood...goooood.

 

[Loki882]

The Kurgen, awesome.

 

[terry78]

I never stop grinning at how even the orc women are at least somewhat attractive. No fuglies in this universe goddammit.

 

[Persona]

mmm, Orc women.

 

[Wolfwood]

I'm betting Clancy Brown is playing an Orc with that voice of his.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

 

[E.NormusJohnson]

Clancy Brown is joining the cast. **** yes.

 

[Teelie]

I never stop grinning at how even the orc women are at least somewhat attractive. No fuglies in this universe goddammit.

You ever see the human woman characters in game? They're fugly. Troll women faces are messed up too, but with the new reskins in the next expansion hopefully that all goes away.

 

[superkong 500]

Jones answered a question about this being treated with the same respect as LOTR with PJ, he said they want to equal LOTR or surpass it. I'm worried as I hold that trilogy as the best ever (specialy FOTR) I wonder if Jones can pull that off, at least make something equally great. Its hard to know this early but I'm kinda worried about everything, for example the locations ( it'll be hard to beat jackson's middle earth with those amazing NZ vistas) Jones will be shooting in Canada for what we know so far and there's some amazing locations there from what I've researched but still.

Another thing is the dynamic between orcs and humans, these orcs will be portrayed more as a misunderstood race rather than villains. However if the film follows the game, then many of the orcs during the first war were basically possessed and controlled by the burning legion which makes them the bad guys. So if that's the case some orcs( like durotan and a handful of others) will be good and the rest will be the villains I'm guessing. But I want this to be the next big fantasy trilogy and I think that if its not aiming to surpass or equal LOTR then it shouldn't be done I mean what's the point really.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Wow, this cast is really shaping up. This is an important film because if it's ACTUALLY good, video game-based films might finally break out of that "they always suck" place they've been in since Bob Hoskins and John Lequizamo dressed up as plumbers. And perhaps THEN we'll finally get our Legend of Zelda movie and maybe, just maybe Castlevania and Diablo.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think it's gonna take more than one good video game movie to convince Nintendo to give out their licenses for movies again, ESPECIALLY after Super Mario Bros.

 

[craigdbfan]

Both anime and video games need that "one" break out film to break the spell. Unfortunately they're both still under that wretched spell.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I feel even worse for Anime. At least some video game adaptations actually made money.

 

[craigdbfan]

Rurouni Kenshin was pretty good apparently. I still haven't had a chance to see it.

But even that doesn't really count seeing as no major Hollywood studio was in charge. WB was just in charge of the distribution.

Out of all the anime properties that are out there I think the one with the biggest potential is Fullmetal Alchemist. For the sole reason that all the main characters are white and that it has a fantasy Germanic setting.

That's something American studios would be able to comprehend and produce without butchering it.

 

[chamber-music]

I liked the first Silent Hill film although I understand its a bit different to the games (which I have never played). Video games are generally treated by Hollywood with the type of contempt they showed superhero movies before they finally started getting them right.

Most live action Hollywood attempts at Anime are awful because they don't understand the source material and try to turn it into something neither fans or the Anime or general audiences want to see.

 

[Victarion]

I enjoyed the Goemon movie, though I haven't read the manga nor seen the anime, so I don't know how faithful it was to the source.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Both anime and video games need that "one" break out film to break the spell. Unfortunately they're both still under that wretched spell.

Yeah. I remember a few years back, I thought Prince of Persia was going to be that movie. And for what it's worth, I kinda liked it. But it wasn't a huge blockbuster and people in general really didn't seem to like it, so it was back to square one after that.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

They shot themselves in the foot when they cast a white guy for a completey middle eastern role.

 

[Doctor Jones]

This film could truly be that first video game adaptation that's actually good. And if that happens, my God, it could follow the trend of comic book films. Hell, the trail of getting quality comic book films was never even this painful.

I mean we could even get to the point where we're like, "ANOTHER video game movie?!"