With the sad state of videogame adaptations in Hollywood, we’re looking towards Moon and Source Code director Duncan Jones to deliver a worthwhile, large-scale spectacle with his take on the hit series Warcraft. Set for a release on December 18th, 2015 (a slot we imagine will get shifted due to another huge sci-fi tentpole sliding into the territory), there’s still a ways to go before we see any sort of results, but the director stopped by BlizzCon 2013 to discuss a few details and reveal the first concept art.
First up, the director reveals that his cast has already been selected, so we imagine an official announcement is forthcoming after some rumored names. Getting into plot details, Jones said that his goal is to make this a Game of Thrones-esque war film as we focus on the battling factions of the Horde and the Alliance, with Lothar and Durotan being our prominent characters. Speaking with his visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer (Life of Pi), the plan is to shoot both human actors and on-set motion captured characters a la Avatar.
As one expect from a big-budget project, Jones intends the film to be audience friendly, welcoming to non-fans of the videogame franchise. However, when it comes to the rating, even though it’s likely be PG-13, he said, “You can get away with some sh*t with PG-13” and compared the style to something like Gladiator, rather than Chronicles of Narnia. As we await the official casting announcements, check out the first concept art below. [Game Informer]
Filming begins early next year in Vancouver.
What do you think of the story details and concept art?