Tull On The Status Of The "Warcraft" Movie

Holding a press conference for "Pacific Rim," Legendary Pictures chief Thomas Tull was asked via Slashfilm about the challenge of developing "Warcraft", the long time coming feature film adaptation of the MMORPG "World of Warcraft." franchise.  He gave a very looooong response.

"A lot of times what has happened in the past is, studios have said, 'How many people play that game? Okay, then that means they'll probably all go out and buy tickets [to see the film].' That is an incredibly poor way to make a movie. We don't know how to make a movie out of 'Warcraft,' the video game. It's the incredible story, the war, and these races, and everything these guys at Blizzard have come up with. They have 100 books, and just this incredibly rich world that they've created. We've taken our time [developing this film], because we absolutely don't want to screw it up. And I think we're getting close to a place where we're ready to go. And when the script is finished, and when we feel like, 'Does this stand on its own, and is it great?' Then we'll start filming. We're not quite there yet. The next two years are going to be pretty exciting."

Sam Raimi and screenwriter Robert Rodat ("Saving Private Ryan") previously completed at least a 40-page treatment and then departed last year.

"The Seventh Son" and "Blood Diamond" scribe Charles Leavitt has taken over writing duties for  "Moon" and "Source Code" director Duncan Jones who will call action.

Tull, Jon Jashni, Charles Roven and Alex Gartner will be producing.