Exactly a decade ago, Legendary Pictures and Blizzard struck a deal to bring about a live-action rendition of Warcraft, the über-popular online role-playing game that is to the MMO genre what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy filmmaking.
So began a testing development period, with numerous writers steering the script in different directions, before Moon and Source Code director Duncan Jones was brought aboard in place of Sam Raimi. Now, after rocking Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, the big-budget feature now known as Warcraft: The Beginning is barrelling down on its opportune summer release date – and we can hardly wait.
Hoping to sate our collective appetites off the back of last week’s impressive international trailer, Legendary and Lionsgate have premiered a new one-sheet for Jones’ CGI showcase, introducing fans to an Azeroth on the brink of chaos.
Retaining all the genre sensibilities of Tolkien’s seminal Lord of the Rings series, coupled with the technical wizardry coursing through the sky-blue veins of James Cameron’s Avatar, it doesn’t take long to pinpoint Warcraft‘s reference points. But the ultimate question will be whether Jones’ picture can dispel the infamous curse that often plagues video game movies.
Among the cast are Travis Fimmel as Anduin Lothar and Toby Kebbel as Durotan, Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn, Travis Fimmel as Anduin Lothar, Ben Foster as Medivh, Ben Schnetzer as Khadgar, Ruth Negga as Lady Taria, Clancy Brown as Blackhand, Daniel Wu as Gul’Dan and Paula Patton’s Garona.
Warcraft: The Beginning finally roars onto the big screen on June 10.
The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: Orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people and their home. So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something.
