Sam Raimi bailed on it last summer, but Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures soldiered on, quickly hiring "Blood Diamond" writer Charles Leavitt to punch up the script (presumably the same one that left Raimi disatisfied with the prospect of directing the movie). They vowed to keep "World of Warcraft" afloat and they have done so by hiring "Moon" and "Source Code" filmmaker Duncan Jones to direct the live-adaptation of the popular video game. While "Source Code" was ambitious and bigger in scope then the intimate, small-scale sci-fi film "Moon," Jones will really be diving in head-first to big budget tentpole status with this one.
As THR, who breaks this news, notes, 'Warcraft' is eclectic, "part fantasy, part science fiction and — depending on the game you’re playing — includes elements such as dragons and orcs, zombies and werewolves, and aliens and spaceships." It will be interesting to see if this world is pared down or not, if only just for budget's (and logic's) sake.
Honestly, this writer is somewhat disappointed. Jones had been developing two sci-fi projects for some time. One called "Mute" and another he described as a "Blade Runner"-esque cityscape sci-fi picture. But people gotta eat and both projects have languished in development without funding for some time, so it's understandable why Jones would want to work on something that's actually going to get made. Jones was supposed to shoot a biopic of 007 creator Ian Fleming and it was supposed to shoot last year, but that plan obviously changed. Legendary is eyeing a fall 2013 start and a 2015 release, so this one definitely seems next for Jones.