Legendary Pictures is hoping to start filming in late 2013 for a 2015 release.
Duncan Jones has been signed on to direct Legendary Pictures’ live-action adaption of the MMORPG freight-train that is World of Warcraft. The filmmaker son of David Bowie is best known for his time-travel hit Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal of the live-action Prince of Persia movie fame. Jones’ producing partner, Stuart Fenegan, will be executive producer while Chris Metzen, script writer for games in all of Blizzard’s major franchises, will co-produce. Filming is currently scheduled to start in fall of 2013 to meet a 2015 release.
Jones made his cinematic debut by writing and directing the thought-provoking sci-fi indie effort Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and costing less than $1 million to make. For contrast the Warcraft movie is expected to have a budget upwards of $100 million. He has also expressed interest in working on the upcoming Wolverine movie. Fenegan most recently produced Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Jones’ movies, along with his lively Twitter account, have made him a favorite among sci-fi fans. His announcement of his new role over Twitter came off as a challenge to himself to finally be the one to make a good movie adaptation of a game.
So the gauntlet was thrown down ages ago: Can you make a proper MOVIE of a video game.Ive always said its possible.Got to DO it now! ;)— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 31, 2013
Legendary is keeping its script, written by Charles Leavitt, under a tight lid. The Warcraft franchise has a huge amount of lore to work with, so it will be interesting to see how, if at all, Leavitt works it into his script. Maintaining Warcraft’s balance of good and evil, with neither the Horde nor the Alliance being seen as inherently “the good guys” or “the bad guys” should also prove to be a challenge for the writer, whose most notable work includes 2006’s Blood Diamond.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
