Warcraft movie goes back to series roots, looks promising

BlizzCon 2013 hasn’t been all about the games: we also have interesting updates about the long awaited Warcraft movie.

Even though we’re still far from the planned 2015 release (production will start in Vancouver early next year), the convention’s panelists were kind enough to shed some new light on the movie. From Blizzard’s side, Rob Pardo (chief creative officer) served as moderator, and was joined by Chris Metzen (VP of creative development) and Nick Carpenter (VP for cinematics). In the movie-making department was Duncan Jones (the film’s director) and Bill Westenhofer (its SFX supervisor).

The first bit of good news is that the movie seems to be in good hands. Duncan Jones has been playing Blizzard games since The Lost Vikings; obviously he has also played Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and World of Warcraft. He got into WoW because his whole clan migrated from Ultima Online, so he has experience in MMORPGs beyond WoW. Bill Westenhofer has played World of Warcraft since the alpha test. He even participated in early morning Blackwing Lair raid runs with his level 90 mage while he was working on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

As for the film’s story, during BlizzCon 2007 it was announced as being focused on the Alliance and set a year before World of Warcraft,but things have changed since Duncan Jones took the helm as the director. For him, the story has to be told from both the Horde and the Alliance’s point of view. He revealed that the movie will be centered on two characters, Durotan and Anduin Lothar, because they are both exemplary figures that represent the best of their respective races. The choice of these characters confirms that the film is now set around the same time as the original Warcraft.

For Duncan, it is unusual to make a movie that tells the story from two sides. That kind of structure will be breaking a few barriers, he said. Chris Metzen and Rob Pardo later added that it would be interesting to see Durotan, who represents the nobility of the uncorrupted Orcs, and his people portrayed on equal footing with humans rather than as monsters. Duncan also said that the movie will have something for everyone; those who don’t play the series will enjoy it, but those who do will have more to appreciate.

Chris Metzen mentioned that Blizzard faced a similar issue during the development of Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. After the first game, both the Orcs and Humans have their own story to tell, and in following both at the same time the question becomes about who’s winning and who’s losing. The same thing can be said for the movie. In the end, he said, everybody loses a little.

The panel also revealed some concept art from some of the recognizable areas that will appear in the film:

Draenor, homeland of the Orcs.

Dalaran, the floating city of magic.

Ironforge, the capital of the dwarves.