Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi is out, and Source Code director Duncan Jones is in, according to an Hollywood Reporter exclusive that an official Blizzard Entertainment forum post confirmed.
Blizzard may know how to create blockbuster, genre-defining games (perhaps you’ve heard of World of Warcraft?), but it hasn’t fared so well with its first foray onto the silver screen. I suppose “foray” suggests that they actually did something, but the announced Warcraft movie has been stuck in development limbo since 2006, when The Dark Knight studio Legendary Pictures first picked up the rights for a live-action adaptation.
In 2009, Sam Raimi was officially announced as the director, with a budget suggested in the $200M range. But he left the production in 2012 due to “other projects” and probably because no one likes him after the trainwreck that was Spider-Man 3.
Now it looks like David Bowie’s son (Jones) is taking things over. Jones is known for his work on the sci-fi indie flick Moon starring Sam Rockwell, filmed for around $1M, and the 2011 sci-fi thriller Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, made for a reported $35M.
The Warcraft movie, should it ever see the light of day (remember the big live-action Halo film Hollywood was supposed to do?), will share producers with The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel, among others.
Top image: Blizzard Entertainment’s only sneak peek into the Warcraft film.