Sam Raimi is Directing World of Warcraft Movie!
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced that Sam Raimi, director of Evil Dead, Spider-Man films and Drag Me to Hell, has signed on to direct a big screen adaptation of World of Warcraft (WOW).
Variety says he’ll start supervising the pre-production and development of Warcraft: The Movie while at the same time finishing up Spider-Man 4. The fourth Spidey film starts shooting next year, with Warcraft to follow.
“At its core, ‘Warcraft’ is a fantastic, action-packed story,” said Raimi. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”
Charles Roven (The Dark Knight, The Bank Job) will also be on board as a producer.
The Warcraft universe features an epic conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. The game has developed a global following since its launch in 1994 and shows no signs of slowing. The franchise now exists in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Its most recent expansion, “Wrath of the Lich King,” sold more than 2.8 million copies in the first day of release and more than 4 million its first month.
Sam Raimi: No Spider-Man 5 Plans
It was previously reported that Sony Pictures would film the next two installment of “Spider-Man” back to back, but director Sam Raimi has ended those rumors in a recent interview conducted by Ain’t It Cool News.
He said:
“No one’s talked to me about making part 5 at this moment. Right now I’m hoping to make part 4,”
As for when Spider-Man 4 might begin, Raimi added:
“It is a never-ending process. Basically we are talking about the story right now, shortly artists will come on and I’ll start giving them shots to draw. We are supposed to start talking to a production designer soon, so it will just keep getting larger and larger. Whenever the picture comes out we want to make sure we were shooting above the bar as it currently stands as far as visual effects go and we may or may not make that, but that will be my team’s goal when we start.”
Sony and Marvel recently announced a May 6, 2011 release date for “Spider-Man 4,” which means production would have to commence sometime next year.
Marvel Pushes Back Thor And The Avengers
Marvel Entertainment Inc said it rescheduled the release dates of some of its self-produced feature film properties through 2012.
Marvel has delayed its superhero blockbusters “Thor” and “The Avengers” by a year. Thor’s new release date is June 17, 2011, moved from July 16, 2010, while “The Avengers” is now on course for a May 4, 2012 arrival having been originally planned for July 15, 2011.
Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel said that the change of dates are in order to space out the release of their solo superhero movies before uniting the characters for ensemble film The Avengers.
“[It] maximizes the visibility of our single-character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multi-character The Avengers film in 2012,” Maisel explained.
Initial plans would have seen two Marvel movies out in 2010 – “Iron Man 2” and “Thor” and three the following year – “The First Avenger: Captain America,” “Spider-Man 4” and “The Avengers.”
“The First Avenger: Captain America” has also been shifted back two months to July 22, 2011, instead of May 6, 2011.
Marvel also confirmed that Sony Pictures will release “Spider-Man 4″ on May 6, 2011. Marvel has licensed theatrical rights of “Spider-Man,” its most popular character, to the unit of Sony.
However, “Iron Man 2″ will be released as scheduled on May 7, 2010, Marvel said.
