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Spider-Man 4 canceled; Warcraft movie soon?
Sam Raimi will no longer be directing Spider-Man 4, and neither will anyone else for that matter. Sony Pictures announced today that they are canning the current Spider-Man franchise and will be rebooting it in the summer of 2012 with an entirely new director, cast, and crew. Raimi's decision to withdraw from the project supposedly stems from the summer 2011 release date, and how it would compromise the creative integrity of the film. This all comes after news that complications in the Spider-Man 4 script threatened to delay the film. For Blizzard fans, this could mean that Raimi is now free to shift his focus to the World of Warcraft movie. However, Mike Fleming of Deadline Hollywood cites an alternative project option to the Azerothian epic, The Given Day, a novel written by Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island and Mystic River. No official announcements from Raimi or Blizzard yet, however Fleming is a very reliable source for rumors in Hollywood. [Thanks to everyone for the tips!]
Spider-Man 4 delayed, possibly impacting Warcraft movie
The latest buzz out of Hollywood is that the fourth installment of the Spider-Man movie franchise has hit a snag. Director Sam Raimi is apparently in the midst of some major creative differences with Sony Pictures executives over the script and the villain lineup. A little bit of drama in Hollywood is nothing new, of course, but in this case its become bad enough to delay the movie, with the May 6th, 2011 release date now in serious doubt.
Saving Private Ryan's Rodat writing WoW movie
The good news about the Sam Raimi-directed World of WarCraft movie is that the game's built-in audience, by nature, has something else to do while it waits for details about the eventual film. The better news: those details are actually emerging.MTV Movies Blog reports that the massively multiviewer onscreen RPG now has a writer: Robert Rodat, best known for writing the script for Saving Private Ryan. Hey, this movie might turn out okay! Of course, he also worked on the script for 10,000 BC. So this movie could be somewhere between Saving Private Ryan and 10,000 BC.As for new details about the plot: Raimi didn't really bring up any when talking to MTV. But he did describe the ideal approach: to capture "the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents. I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible."[Via WoW.com]
Robert Rodat to write the Warcraft screenplay
Sam Raimi spoke with MTV News about his upcoming Warcraft movie, and while he didn't confirm (or deny, we guess) the whole subtitle thing, he did mention a new writer. Robert Rodat is apparently putting a screenplay together -- he's best known for writing Saving Private Ryan (and of course if we can get a Warcraft movie as good as that Spielbergian epic, we'll all be happy), and he's also penned Fly Away Home and The Patriot. Most recently, says his Wikipedia page, he did some work on 10,000 B.C., though if you saw that movie, you probably wouldn't be able to tell, anyway -- it was terrible.Raimi says he wants to stay faithful "to the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game," as well as "choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible." He calls Rodat a great character writer, and says a great character-based story within the world of Azeroth is his goal. Sounds good. The picture above is the only art we've ever seen of the movie (it was presented at BlizzCon a few years ago), but since then, it sounds like the movie has changed quite a bit, so we'll have to wait and see what Rodat and Raimi are coming up with.
Interview with Paul Sams, Steelers owner
As we reported the other week, Blizzard COO Paul Sams is now co-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers (who are stepping up lately), and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hit up Mr. Sams for a quick interview about being at the intersection of Azeroth and Steeler Nation. Turns out the man who collects everything Blizzard has also been a Steelers fan since he was four years old, even though he's from California. And we were right with all of the speculation: he got connected with the Steelers management through Legendary Pictures producer Thomas Tull, and when the chance came to own part of the franchise, he jumped.They also talk about expanding out to Carnagie Mellon University -- Blizzard has a thriving educational program in Irvine, but Sams says that they are looking to expand that, so Pittsburgh is a possibility. And finally, he says that the Warcraft movie is being scripted at the moment -- Sam Raimi will do Spider-man 4, and then it's all Azeroth for him. In the meantime, let's see about getting some of this Steelers news in the game -- even if we can't get an epic football to toss around, surely we'll at least see a Tauren somewhere named "Bill COW-her," right?
Warcraft movie subtitled on IMDb, likely fake
A few tipsters have alerted us to the fact that the Warcraft movie now has a subtitle on the Internet Movie Database -- instead of "Warcraft," it's now called "Warcraft: Rise of the Lich King." Though keep in mind what we've said before: almost anyone can edit those IMDb entries, which means this is less than even a rumor. It could be that some IMDb editor saw the title of the book somewhere and confused it for the movie's new title, or it could just be that an overzealous fan threw in a title of their own. Especially this early in a movie's pre-production, nothing is guaranteed.Two other things to note here: back at the BlizzCon panel a few years ago, Chris Metzen did tell us that the movie wouldn't focus on Arthas anyway, so calling the movie "Rise of the Lich King" seems like it would go directly against that plan. Then again, we do know that when Sam Raimi became attached to the project, he brought his own set of ideas, so maybe he's convinced Blizzard to tell the story of Arthas yet again. Secondly, the IDMb crew page has been updated: apparently the Aaron Sims Company has been contracted to do some early character work for the movie. Unfortunately, their work is all over the map -- he's worked on Evil Dead II (great), Men in Black (pretty good), and Doom (whoops -- one of the worst videogame-based movies around). It's early though -- we do know Blizzard won't let Uwe Boll touch the movie, so hopefully they've chosen worthy talent here already.
Who plays what in the WoW movie?
Back-channel discussion here at WoW.com central has, while not occupied with the question, "What happened to those socks I was going to pack for BlizzCon?", concerned itself with who we'd like to see in the WoW movie. Our Twitterers got in on the act and started sending in a number of suggestions for actors and actresses they'd like in certain roles. Bruce Campbell -- well, he's a given, but there doesn't seem to be any agreement on what he should be playing. Ditto such popular picks as Summer Glau and Judi Dench, although Alexstrasza was often floated as a character for the latter. The Alexstrasza talk got me to thinking about having seen Mission Impossible on an idle evening recently. While it's your basic (though slick) action flick, the standout character was Vanessa Redgrave's Max-the-arms-dealer. Not only was her entrance thoroughly unexpected, but she was cool, controlled, overflowing with sardonic amusement, and unaffected by the thought of having someone killed. While I would love to see her fight Judi Dench's M from the Bond movies, that won't happen, but now I've wondering who would make a better dragon (black, not red). Of course, all of this is entirely academic because we have no idea what the movie is even going to be about, but I am entirely certain that Vanessa Redgrave is a dragon (although possibly this is not news). We've talked a lot about a possible plot and the music for the film, but if you got the opportunity to cast it, who would you put in which role?
Rumorbuster: David Wenham might play Arthas
There's a rumor going around that Australian actor David Wenham (who you'll probably know as Faramir in Lord of the Rings, though he was also in 300 and Van Helsing) is supposed to play Arthas in the upcoming Sam Raimi-directed Warcraft movie -- but not so fast. The whole thing appears to stem from a listing over on the Internet Movie Database's listing for Warcraft (which, by the way, seems to have a working title -- a few days ago, it was just called "Untitled Sam Raimi Project"), where Wenham's name was inserted as rumored to play Arthas. That in and of itself means nothing at all -- the IMDb can be updated and edited by almost anyone that comes to the site, and while it could be that Wenham's agent is trying to get his name out there for a certain part, it's just as likely that some overzealous Lord of the Rings fan is trying to do some casting of their own. Wenham's name under there as "rumored" has about as much validity as a mention on Wikipedia: not much.Oh, and there's one more issue -- as discussed in this forum post, Arthas himself probably won't even be in the Warcraft movie, if what Blizzard told us at BlizzCon a little while back is to be believed. Back at the BlizzCon 2007 movie panel, we were told by the panel (including Chris Metzen) that the movie is supposed to start a year before WoW begins, which means Arthas is sitting up in Icecrown doing a whole lot of nothing. When fans specifically asked about Arthas, we were told that while the movie would certainly reference him, it likely wouldn't focus on him at all. So while Wenham (or his fans) may be angling for the part of Arthas, even if he got it, he probably wouldn't get much screen time anyway.Of course, that's assuming that what we were told two years ago still holds. Gary Whitta, who worked on a screenplay for the film, says that Sam Raimi has his own ideas about the movie, so, as BlizzPlanet points out, maybe he wants Arthas front and center. But for now, the David Wenham rumor is still just a made-up rumor, and a really thin one at that.
The best of WoW.com: July 21-28, 2009
Yes, Virginia, there's going to be a WoW movie. And no one's more excited than the folks over at WoW.com, Joystiq's sister site and your home for all things found in Azeroth. Here's our 10 most popular post from the past week, including some news from both Sam Raimi and the awesome Bruce Campbell about the movie we now can't wait to see. News Sam Raimi to direct the WoW movieYup, the man who directed Evil Dead and Spiderman will be taking us on a cinematic tour of Azeroth. Bruce Campbell and Metzen on the movie at Comic-ConAnd if Sam Raimi is there, then you know Bruce Campbell can't be far behind. Gimme some sugar, baby. Hunter Q&A releasedBlizzard talks about all things Hunters, including a few hints at what we'll hear from BlizzCon. Dwarf levels solely by exploring, gains World Explorer at level 17This guy conquered the world before he could even get a mount to ride. WoW.com's Guide to patch 3.2The next patch is right around the corner -- here's your review on what's in it. Features World of WarCrafts: My Lich King PonyOur weekly column spotlighting crafts from around the community shows off a kids toy that's been... Scourged. The Light and How to Swing It: Five things every Paladin must do.Got a Plate-wearing healer? Here's what you've got to do with them. Insider Trader: Woodworking in the expansion?"Woodworking" has long been rumored as a new profession in the game, and IT examines how it might be implemented. What do you expect from a WoW movie?We ask our readers just want they want to see in a movie about the World of Warcraft. More ideas for player housingCustom places for players in-game is an idea that's been around for a while, but here's a few new takes on it.
Sam Raimi's production diary
Oh, Lore Sjoberg, will you ever stop being awesome? I sure hope not. I've been a fan of his Book of Ratings and his webcomics (NSFW language, I guess) for a while, but apparently he's been writing for Wired as well, and his latest column brings us Sam Raimi's production diary from the Warcraft movie. It's pretty hilarious throughout. If the real movie is as good as this production diary, in fact, it may be watchable. Some favorite bits: "Nerf Shia LaBeouf" Why is it that every time we wrap for the day, one of the extras asks me to "open a portal to Dalaran"? Is he asking for drugs? If I didn't know better, I'd think someone was paying them for detached body parts. ...it turns out I can just give them, like, five things and let them fight over who gets them. It's a great read altogether, so click over if you have a spare minute. On a side note, I'm certain there has been at least one good video game movie, although admittedly I can't figure out what it might be.
WoW Insider Show's 100th episode live tomorrow with BigBearButt
Our podcast has hit a landmark -- can you believe we've been doing this thing for almost two years? Yes, it's been a full 99 times that we've sat down and recorded our thoughts on the latest and greatest news from the World of Warcraft community, and tomorrow's show will be number 100. It will be a lot of fun -- we'll welcome back our good friend John "BigBearButt" Patricelli, and he'll join Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington, Turpster, and I to talk about all the most popular posts here on WoW.com, including Sam Raimi's upcoming movie and what we expect from it, Ghostcrawler's thoughts on class balance going into BlizzCon, and the Druid and Hunter Q&As that have appeared from Blizzard lately.And I guess since it's the 100th show we should do something fun: Turpster and I will be on video during the show, so you'll get to see our faces as we chat, and we'll be doing a look back at our favorite moments from the podcast so far. In fact, we also want to hear your favorite moments from the first 100 episodes, and to give you a little incentive, we're giving away some more loot cards. Two random commenters on this post who tell us their favorite moments from the show's past will win a loot card code each, courtesy of our friends at WoWTCGLoot.com. You can only enter once, please use a valid email address when you enter (so we can contact you when you win), and you must enter before tomorrow night, Saturday the 25th of July, 2009, at midnight Eastern time. Good luck, and give us your memories!Our show kicks off tomorrow at July 25, 2009 3:30 PM EDTvar date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone (GMT"+offset+")"; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); ) over on our Ustream page, or, as always, you can find the embedded stream below. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon for show number 100!
Bruce Campbell and Metzen on the movie at Comic-Con
I have geeked out many times while writing for this site, but I think this is the geekiest geekout I've ever geeked out about: Bruce Campbell talking about World of Warcraft. He's hanging out at Comic-Con promoting Burn Notice (a series that I'm still watching, if only because of him), and IGN cornered him on the topic of his friend Sam Raimi's new movie, based on our very own Azeroth. Campbell says he has no idea what Raimi has in mind for the movie, and that he only just heard about the job when we did. But then he says something that will lift all of our geeky hearts: when it comes time for casting, Bruce says, "I'll get a call." And Raimi will say to him, "You play some schmuck. Some idiot guy. Some garbage man."We can't think of too many garbagemen in Azeroth -- Topper Mcnabb, maybe? But the fact that Campbell knows about the movie and is ready to take a role is good enough for us. And he isn't the only person speculating on the part he might play: Chris Metzen brought up Campbell at Comic-Con and suggested he might play a CG-based character, like a goblin. That doesn't sound so awesome to us, though -- you've gotta let that world-famous mug shine through. It does seem a little unlikely that Campbell would play a really huge part, but a lot of people have brought up Varian Wrynn, and we can't really think of any part more fitting (plus, maybe that means the movie will focus on Horde instead of Alliance). Hail to the King, baby!Keep an eye over on our sister site Massively for more Comic-Con coverage all this weekend, and if we hear any more about the movie, we'll be sure to let you know.[via BlizzPlanet]
Gary Whitta worked on a Warcraft screenplay
You'll notice that I surreptitiously left the question of "screenwriter" out of the other day's Breakfast Topic. That's because, quite frankly, I have no idea who I want writing the Warcraft movie. The folks I really like in Hollywood are probably too quirky to write an epic movie like this, and the folks who usually write these epic movies are too lame to handle a world like Warcraft. In my mind, only someone like Metzen should wield the pen for this one, and even then, his strengths lie in creating universes, not dialog. So I have no idea.But apparently there's already a screenplay being worked on: with the news that Sam Raimi is taking the helm, screenwriter Gary Whitta (who's written both for games and movies) says he'd been working with both Legendary and Blizzard on crafting a screenplay that included both the sprawling world and a story that would resonate with non-players. But he says that since Raimi took over, it's likely the whole thing will go in another direction, as "his own pretty specific vision of what he wanted to do story-wise." Whitta does say, however, that, from what he's heard, "Raimi is the best possible director for this." Sounds good to us.It'll be quite a tightrope to walk: depending on what Legendary actually wants out of the film, they've got to make the story interesting and pressing enough that even non-WoW players will get into it without ruining and/or ignoring the reason why there are so many players in the first place: the lush and intriguing universe we've all enjoyed playing in. Anyone tasked with putting together a script that uses all of those blocks to build something great will have quite a job ahead of them.[via Blue's News]
Breakfast Topic: The rest of the movie's crew
Well Sam Raimi is the Warcraft movie's director, and yet with all of the epic action we expect from it, he can't do the job alone. We asked a while back about who you would cast in the movie, but what do you think about the other crew members? Somebody's got to run the cameras and the lights, and make the music and do the CGI, right?The Lord of the Rings is probably the closest relative to an ideal Warcraft movie, I'd think, and Andrew Lesnie worked closely with Peter Jackson to shoot all of those movies. Bruno Delbonnel is another choice -- he not only shot Amelie and the latest Harry Potter, but he's been Oscar nominated a number of times. Wally Pfeister has worked closely with Legendary Pictures (who are producing the movie) and Christopher Nolan, shooting both of the latest Batman movies and The Prestige as well.As for music, you'd think that there'd be plenty of Warcraft music already, but Hans Zimmer or Howard Shore might be two ideas for composers. After that, I don't know -- who would do costumes? Effects? It'd be great to have Weta or ILM working on creatures for the movie, but then again, Blizzard's CG team really should have a part in it. Lots of potential all around: if you were hiring the crew, who would you choose?
What do you expect from a WoW movie?
Blizzard announced the Warcraft movie in 2006, after a long and arduous search for a proper production outfit that shared their vision. This search ended with Legendary pictures getting the deal - and while the studio doesn't have spotless track record (Lady in the Water, I'm looking at you...), I think they've hit more home runs than strike outs, particularly with properties that resonate strongly with us geeks and fanboys. Whether or not you agree with their vision, it's safe to say the guys behind Legendary respect their source material a great deal - from the visually stunning 300, the somber and severe The Dark Knight, and the un-movie-able Watchmen. I even really liked Bryan Singer's reverent and messianic take on big blue in Superman Returns.Now, after a drought of news regarding the film, Harry Knowles broke the news about Spider-Man and Drag Me to Hell director Sam Raimi landing the job of helming the Warcraft flick. Variety soon reported that Charles Roven, who produced The Dark Knight, was also joining the mix. Although a lot of things can still change from now until we see Azeroth on the silver screen (directorial musical chairs isn't uncommon in Hollywood), a lot of us at WoW.com were pretty stoked to hear Raimi being selected for the job. I mean, at least it's not Uwe Boll.
Sam Raimi set to direct World of Warcraft movie (Update: It's official!)
Update: Blizzard just confirmed the story with a swift press release! Raimi's set to direct, and Charles Roven (producer of The Dark Knight) is set to produce. According to the presser, "the film will fall under Legendary Pictures' co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros." We certainly hope they've got deep pockets -- we imagine a World of Warcraft movie won't end up being a low-budget project. Original post is below. We know our stuff about video game news, but when it comes to film scoops, we usually bow to the expertise of Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles. Imagine our delight when we read a recent report from the heavily bearded entertainment reporter claiming that Evil Dead and Spider-Man creator Sam Raimi would helm a film adaptation of World of Warcraft. According to Knowles, confirmation of this story will be hitting Hollywood trade publications later this week or next. Where is this magical, magical news coming from? We have no idea -- but Knowles seems fairly certain. With Comic-Con just around the corner, and Blizzcon just around the corner that's behind that first corner, we're sure to hear more details soon -- if Knowles' report is accurate. [Via WoW.com]
Sam Raimi to direct WoW movie
Ain't It Cool News has uncovered one helluva juicy tidbit; one that has more or less came out of nowhere. Sam Raimi is set to direct the World of Warcraft movie. This news is coming out right before the San Diego ComicCon, which begins this week. According to Ain't It Cool News, the story should be hitting the trades later this week or next (Trades are daily papers in Hollywood about the latest goings on, more business than gossip news). Raimi is best known for directing all the recent Spiderman works and cult horror films. This likely means that a movie announcement is not far off – perhaps BlizzCon? You can also check out what to expect from a World of Warcraft movie. Edit: Schramm here. Adam wrote a great post, but he forgot the best three words of this news: Bruce Campbell cameo. There better be one. Update: Blizzard has since confirmed this news with a press release, made very late in the evening Tuesday PDT. A couple hours after this story was posted...huh.
Sam Raimi thinks a Warcraft movie has potential
The hottest topic that didn't get discussed at BlizzCon this year was the WoW movie -- last year, we had a whole panel dedicated to how it was going, but this year, all we got was a vague mention that it's still being worked on. Still, the biggest question that hangs in the air is just who might direct it, and we've got our first rumor: Sam Raimi, he of Spiderman and The Evil Dead series. He's not exactly hired yet, but he is quoted by MTV Movies as being interested in the Warcraft story and universe.He's got my greenlight -- I don't know how good a movie it would be (Spiderman 3 is proof that Raimi, quirky as he is, can go off the rails at times), but any movie with Bruce Campbell in it works for me. And you know we'd get at least a cameo if Raimi took the helm. But at the very least, it sounds like Raimi has the right ideas to get a Warcraft movie together: "It has such great, adventurous characters in it," he says, "and such fantastic landscapes and rules."If you're going to start looking for directors, you could definitely do a lot worse. At least we know Uwe Boll will never direct it.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
