Legendary Pictures has declared “Warcraft” on “Source Code” director Duncan Jones.
The studio has hired the up-and-coming filmmaker to helm their live-action adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s enormously-popular video-game franchise, which they’re currently eyeing for a 2015 release. The storyline of the Charles Leavitt-penned script is unknown at this time, but the film will presumably blend the games’ elements of sci-fi and fantasy into a blockbuster whole.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story, “Warcraft” is looking at a fall 2013 start date with a budget expected to be north of $100 million.
Jones’ “Source Code,” a 2011 techno-thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, grossed nearly $150 million worldwide on a $32 million budget. His initial breakthrough came in 2009 with the release of the critically-acclaimed sci-fi indie “Moon” starring Sam Rockwell.
The “Warcraft” series began with 1994’s “Warcraft: Orcs & Humans,” a real-time strategy game that has spawned three other installments: 1996’s “Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness,” 2002’s “Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos” and “World of Warcraft,” the hugely-successful “massively multiplayer online role-playing game” that was first released in 2004 and has been updated with numerous expansion sets since. That title, which allows gamers from all over the globe to interact with one another in a virtual world, currently boasts over 10 million online subscribers.
Are you looking forward to “Warcraft”? Do you think Jones is the right director for the job?