Rodat Hired To Pen World Of Warcraft Film

MTV reports that Saving Private Ryan screenwriter Robert Rodat has been hired to pen the script for Sam Raimi's World Of Warcraft film.

Raimi said in an interview with MTV, "We want to be really faithful to the game. We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a 'World of Warcraft' adventure. Only obviously it's very different because it's expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture."

The film, simply titled Warcraft, is based on the popular video game franchise and the studio and Raimi understand that since the game already has millions of worldwide subscribers, the film has huge potential to become a franchise, something which Raimi is already quite familiar with. Although the World Of Warcraft following does mean the film has the enormous potential to hoover the box office, it also means that fans could easily be alienated if the film version turns out to be wrong or inaccurate.

World Of Warcraft has a reservoir of myths and legends built into the story structure, giving the adaptation plenty of room to expand on one of them or move in a different direction with a full set of new characters.

For the moment, fans will have to wait to even catch a glimpse of the upcoming film as Raimi still has to shoot Spider-Man 4, which begins production early next year. This gives Rodat plenty of time to start putting something together. Raimi said "I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible."

The World Of Warcraft universe centres on an epic conflict between the Horde and the Alliance. Since its launch in 1994, the game rapidly developed a global following. The videogame publisher Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures are mounting the film while Warner Bros. is along to co-finance and distribute.

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Alain Nouvel