Though Duncan Jones is known primarily for his two low-budget independent films, his next project will launch him into the world of multi-million-dollar blockbusters. Jones has now signed on to direct the film adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s massively popular computer game franchise, Warcraft.
The film will be produced by Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, along with Charles Roven and Alex Gartner, representing Blizzard and Atlas Entertainment.
Legendary Pictures acquired the film rights in 2006, but the development process has been somewhat troubled over the years. At one point, Sam Raimi was attached to direct the film. Legendary hasn’t announced which parts of the Warcraft story they will be adapting, but their writer, Chris Mentzen, will certainly have a great deal to choose from. The Warcraft series features humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, undead, dragons, and even giant fighting pandas from the latest expansion pack.
Jones’ first film was a sci-fi performance piece drama called Moon, which debuted in 2009 and starred Sam Rockwell. In 2011, he followed up with the very original time-travel thriller Source Code, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal. Jones is known for using small budgets for his films. Moon cost only about $1 million to make, and Source Code only cost $35 million, while grossing $147 million worldwide. For Warcraft, Legendary is providing a budget of $100 million for him to use.
Jones is a very surprising pick to direct the film, especially considering his resume. It is a question of whether he has enough experience to helm such an ambitious project. I must confess that I was never a very large fan of Warcraft, but with such a talented name like Jones attached, I am certainly intrigued.
What are your thoughts about this announcement? Do you think that Jones has the experience to pull it off? Which elements of the franchise do you believe should be adapted first? Please be sure to give us your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
