Legendary Pictures chairman and producer of 300 Thomas Tull and
game publisher Brash Entertainment CEO Mitch Davis recently delivered
the Hollywood & Games keynote entitled Driving Mythology
Forward. They gave a very riveting speech on the difficulties in
crossing over from one medium to the next, but what might interest most
people though is Tull's references to the up and coming movie based on Blizzard's World of Warcraft.
He addressed the community of gamers who have grown to become rather wary of movies based on video games and why the World of Warcraft movie would be different. He cited 300 as an example of a medium which has traversed the boundaries of media.
We’re doing World of Warcraft,
and making it into a movie. I have very strong feelings -- from the
movie side -- that making movies based on games just because they sold
well is a really bad idea. There’ve been some like that that weren’t up
to snuff just out of the gate.
It doesn’t matter
to us if it’s based on a graphic novel like [Frank Miller's] 300, or a
TV show – if there’s a great universe and story, that’s what’s
interesting to us. Sure, there are 8 million people playing WoW, but
even if all of those people saw the movie multiple times, we’d still be
screwed. It’s a jumping off point and we see it as larger than that.
World of Warcraft has the right stuff to make it happen.
Those are very interesting statements coming from the man who created a movie very faithful to the source material, yet entertaining
enough for those who haven't read the graphic novel.
Will he be working his magic with this movie and bringing the game to
the big screen with the amount of accuracy that gamers will be looking
for and at the same time providing a memorable experience for those who
have never played a single Warcraft game?
Well, according to Tull, it
depends on how you handle the lore of the game and the characters in
the story. He delved into game licenses and the
important role that the creators of the game and filmmakers have in the creation of a
movie such as this.
Right now we're
working on that realtime. I think some of the stuff that makes a game
translates well into a movie [and] is a good story. If there's a lore,
if there's a road and story and a world that's been created, and
characters that are interesting in a way that's more than just point
and shoot
You have to look at
it and not make a novelty out of it. Not just look at sales records.
Blizzard plays a very important role in this process. If you've created
a game, be it Halo, Gears Of War, or Warcraft - you came up with
something that's compelling enough to resonate with a huge number of
people.
There has to be a
trust, and you have to at some point hand over the baton to people who
know how to make films.
We are working very closely with the designers and writers, and they're
very involved. I think on the bigger [films] you have to have that.
They're sitting right there at the table with us as we develop the
story and the script, and I think we're nailing the story and what's
compelling about it.
With that said, I believe that this has the potential of becoming a
blockbuster hit when it comes out. While a lot of people will be going
out to see it to see how faithful it to the established
Warcraft Lore and what not, more people will be going to see if the
movie is entertaining and worth watching. Tull seems to have his eye on
the ball with this one, so hopefully he delivers on his statements.
Titles
