Warcraft: The Beginning,[1][16] or just "Warcraft", is a movie directed by Duncan Jones, produced by Legendary Pictures, and distributed by Universal Pictures. It began filming at the beginning of 2014 and has a release date of June 10, 2016.
Synopsis 
Official synopsis
- THE PEACEFUL REALM OF AZEROTH STANDS ON THE BRINK OF WAR AS ITS CIVILIZATION FACES A FEARSOME RACE OF INVADERS: ORC WARRIORS FLEEING THEIR DYING HOME TO COLONIZE ANOTHER. AS A PORTAL OPENS TO CONNECT THE TWO WORLDS, ONE ARMY FACES DESTRUCTION AND THE OTHER FACES EXTINCTION. FROM OPPOSING SIDES, TWO HEROES ARE SET ON A COLLISION COURSE THAT WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF THEIR FAMILY, THEIR PEOPLE AND THEIR HOME.
- SO BEGINS A SPECTACULAR SAGA OF POWER AND SACRIFICE IN WHICH WAR HAS MANY FACES, AND EVERYONE FIGHTS FOR SOMETHING.
Known lore elements
- Humans
- Anduin Lothar should be featured throughout the film.
- King Llane Wrynn I will have an early part with his consort, Lady Taria.
- Khadgar appears to be involved with some parts of Dalaran.
- Medivh will clearly be featured with the opening of the Dark Portal
- Orcs
- Durotan will play a major part in the storyline with his mate, Draka.
- Blackhand and Orgrim Doomhammer are known to be a large part.
- Gul'dan has a significant part.
- We know Garona will be featured.
Possible elements
Though little specific has been revealed about the content of the
movie, it is reportedly set at the time of events leading into the First War.
The story focuses on the war between the orcs and humans, capturing
each side's way of thinking and delving into their varied and sometimes
identical ideals. Sir Anduin Lothar plays a prominent role for the
humans, while the orcs' main driving character is reportedly Durotan,
the father of Thrall.
Since it is set at some point during the First War, there are some plot points that can be expected - though it remains to be seen how strongly the writers have stuck to canon:
- The corruption of the orcs.
- Medivh and the creation of the Dark Portal.
- The invasion of Azeroth by the orcs.
- Durotan and Gul'dan at odds with one another. Durotan is a being of honor and stands against the corruption and invasion, while Gul'dan has accepted the promises of Sargeras and his agents unquestioningly.
- The Frostwolf clan is exiled.
- Blackhand betrayed by Orgrim Doomhammer who becomes the new Warchief.
- Medivh is killed by Sir Anduin Lothar.
- Durotan is assassinated and his son, Thrall, is taken as a slave by humans
- King Llane of Azeroth betrayed and assassinated by Garona Halforcen.
- The destruction of Stormwind Keep and various human settlements.
- Sir Anduin Lothar leading the exodus of the human survivors.
For the orcs, any of the warlords featured in
Warlords of Draenor are possible, but how large a part those beyond the
ones mentioned above is still a mystery. Some have said they saw Ner'zhul in the trailer.
Cast and crew
Crew
- Director - Duncan Jones[2][3]
- Executive Producer - Stuart Fenegan[3][3][6][5]
- Executive Producer - Jillian Share[6][5]
- Executive Producer - Brent O'Connor[6][5]
- Executive Producer - Mike Morhaime (Blizzard)[5]
- Executive Producer - Paul W. Sams (Blizzard)[5]
- Co-Producer - Rob Pardo (Blizzard)[5]
- Co-Producer - Chris Metzen (Blizzard)[5]
- Co-Producer - Nicholas S. Carpenter (Blizzard)[17][5]
- Co-Producer - Rebecca Steel Roven[5]
- Producer - Charles Roven[3][6][5]
- Producer - Alex Gartner[3] (Atlas Entertainment)[6][5]
- Producer - Thomas Tull (Legendary Pictures)[3][6][5]
- Producer - Jon Jashni (Legendary Pictures)[3][6][5]
- Writer - Duncan Jones[6][5]
- Writer - Charles Leavitt[3][5]
- Visual Effects Director - Bill Westenhofer[18][12][17]
Visual Effects Supervisor (ILM) - Jeff White[19] - Music Composer- Ramin Djawadi[11]
- Cinematography - Simon Duggan[12]
- Production Designer - Gavin Bocquet[20]
- Costume Designer - Mayes Rubeo[12][19]
- Set Decorator - Elizabeth Wilcox[21]
- Movement Coach - Terry Notary[22]
- Stunts and Orc Mo-cap assist - Daniel Cudmore[22]
Cast
Edit to the right of the section title.- Confirmed
- Clancy Brown[7][8] — Blackhand
- Travis Fimmel[9][10][23] — Anduin Lothar
- Ben Foster[9][10][24] — Medivh
- Rob Kazinsky[9][10] — Orgrim Doomhammer
- Toby Kebbell[9][10] — Durotan
- Paula Patton[9][10][25][26] — Garona
- Daniel Wu[7][8] — Gul'dan
- Dominic Cooper[10] — King Llane
- Ben Schnetzer[27] — Khadgar
- Ruth Negga[9] [26] - Lady Taria
- Anna Galvin[28] - Draka
- Ryan Robbins[29][30] — Karos
- Daniel Cudmore[29][31] — Various orcs
- Not confirmed
- Terry Notary[32][cn] - Grommash Hellscream
- Callum Keith Rennie[29][33] — Moroes?[citation needed]
- Dylan Schombing[32] — Young Varian Wrynn
- Rumored
- Burkely Duffield[cn] — Callan?
- Dean Redman[cn] — Varis?
- Anna Van Hooft[cn] — Aloman?
- Valérie Wiseman[cn] — Kultiran?
- Early eliminated
- Paul Dano[25] — ?
- Anson Mount[25] — ?
- Anton Yelchin[25] — ?
- Colin Farrell[25] — ?
- Mila Kunis — Valeera Sanguinar? [34]
Development history
2006 - 2008
In a May 9, 2006 press release, Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures (makers of Batman Begins and 300) announced that they will develop a live-action film set in the Warcraft universe.[35]
Legendary Pictures has acquired the movie rights for the game universe,
and both companies are now focused on translating the Warcraft
experience to the big screen. Uwe Boll attempted to apply for the job of
director, from which Blizzard CEO Paul Sams replied "We will not sell
the movie rights, not to you…especially not to you."[36] At BlizzCon 2008, according to Mike Morhaime, a script was being written.[37]
Chris Metzen mentioned that the film will be action-packed and violent,
stating "We're definitely not going to make a G or a PG version of
this. It's not PillowfightCraft."[38]
2009 - 2011
The live-action film was set for release in 2009,[38] but was later rescheduled to 2011.[39] On July 22, 2009, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Sam Raimi
would become the Warcraft movie director, but in July 2012 he told
Crave Online that he would not direct due to committing to the movie Oz: The Great and Powerful.[40]
In 2010 it was announced that Filipina cosplay goddess Alodia Gosengfiao would likely star in the movie,[41][42] but this was never confirmed by any official sources.
2012
As of early 2012, the movie has still not been announced to be in
production, so the chances of it being made are getting lower by the
year. At Comic Con 2011, Chris Metzen said the movie was not dead, but
gave few useful details saying it was still in the "treatment stage".[43] In mid-March 2012, Nethaera said the movie is "still on the radar" with no other update.[44]
According to IMDB, the manuscript writer will be Chris Metzen. (Jesse Wigutow was mentioned, but has been removed).[45] IMDB information on pre-release movies should be taken as suspect, though. IMDB generally only removes false information if someone reports it.
2013
Not much happened through late 2012, but in late January 2013,
Legendary Pictures announced that director Duncan Jones had been
attached to the production,[3]
sparking some hope the filming might start. No specific development
news has come out so far in Spring 2013, but lots of indirect evidence
of film production has cropped up. However, previous Director, Sam
Raimi, did explain why he left the project in 2013. He revealed that a
lot of pre-production work was done by him and Robert Rodat (script
writer), but Blizzard effectively vetoed their work and he largely blamed it on their mismanagement.[46]
The film now appears to be real with an official announcement and short teaser at Comic-Con 2013.[47] The film is supposed to begin principal photography some time in early 2014.[48]
- A view of a desolate, dry landscape full of rocky outcroppings that pans to a scruffy, armored human soldier drinking water from a leather skin. A cage with rocks in it is shown followed by a squeaking noise as a green tinged sky is shown with dark clouds and green lightning. The waterskin is tossed to the ground and the soldier draws his sword with a sound of metal ringing off metal. The human walks over to the skeleton a fallen soldier and picks up the soldier's shield. He smashes his sword on the shield, apparently testing it. Cut to the muscled green arm (likely of an orc) of a creature heading toward the soldier. They circle each other with flashes of green skin and some armor as they charge each other. An extreme closeup of the orc as it raises its hammer and brings it down as the human raises his shield. Cut to black. A Warcraft logo. And then the Blizzard Entertainment logo.
Officially announced to release in late 2015
It has been announced to be released on December 18, 2015.[6]
Official release pushed to spring 2016
Apparently the next installment of the Star Wars franchise was
scheduled for late 2015, so it apparently prompted the studio to move
the Warcraft film release to March 16, 2016.[15]
Official release delayed now to summer 2016
The reasons were not specifically given (perhaps to take advantage of
traditional action movie summer season), but the studios delayed the
release again to June 10, 2016.[50][51]
Significant casting lined up
By early December 2013, several cast members have been confirmed or
mostly confirmed. Among them: Travis Fimmel ('Vikings'), Paula Patton
('Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'), Ben Foster ('3:10 to Yuma'),
Toby Kebbell ('The Counselor'), and Rob Kazinsky ('Pacific Rim').
Negotiations with Dominic Cooper ('Captain America: The Winter Soldier')
are also being finalized.
Financing and distribution
According to the LA Times: "...Universal, a unit of NBCUniversal, will market, co-finance and distribute Legendary films for five years beginning in 2014..."[52]
2014
Edit to the right of the section title.
2015
On April 23, 2015 Legendary Pictures announced release date changes
for Warcraft to move from March 11th, 2016 to June 10th, 2016. Although
not officially announced by the studio, the changes were most likely
made to avoid the March 25, 2016 release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice.
The official trailer was announced to be released on November 6, 2015.[53] It debuted during the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2015.[54]
There was no general movie panel, but WoWWiki got to cover the press-only movie panel that began with a re-screening of the trailer for press only.
