World of Warcraft

[lamaros]

There are great genre parodies that are enhanced by knowing the sources (e.g. "Galaxy Quest", "Spaceballs") but arguably they are funny films in their own right. You don't need to know a lot about zombie films to watch "Shaun of the Dead", either.

This.

[Lantyssa]

All I'm saying is Scott Pilgrim Sucked Hard and I'm still a little confused how people here who are normally decent human beings could like it.

Girl with crazy dyed hair.  It makes everything better.  Yes, I'm a simple creature at times.

[HaemishM]

All I'm saying is Scott Pilgrim Sucked Hard and I'm still a little confused how people here who are normally decent human beings could like it.

I thought Scott Pilgrim was funny as fuck.

[Trippy]

All I'm saying is Scott Pilgrim Sucked Hard and I'm still a little confused how people here who are normally decent human beings could like it.

It did have that pretty wee lassie from The Thing in it

[Tannhauser]

Galaxy Quest was awesome and a great parody.
Your Highness was not much of a parody, it was pretty much crap except for a few scenes.
Scott Pilgrim was...not great but not bad either.  I'm glad I saw it because it was at least original.
Shaun of the Dead was quite funny and another really strange, original movie I'm glad I saw.

[Margalis]

I love "Your Highness." It's not really a stoner movie as much as it is just a silly movie, and it does poke a lot of fun at D&D / fantasy / video game tropes. The whole importance of quests and the formal rules around them for example. Also you can tell that the actors were having a lot of fun, which I always find very endearing. You can see Portman trying hard not to crack up at some of her lines. It appeared on a lot of critics "worst of" lists which is ridiculous to me. I guess you have to be into that sort of humor but I am!

Galaxy Quest was great. Spaceballs great. I just watched Spaceballs the other nights, it's so dense with comedy, and while a lot of it is genre-based there's also a ton of all sorts of other stuff. ("Are we being too literal?")

Scott Pilgrim was FUCKING TERRIBLE. It tried to let the premise carry all the weight. Here's a scene with a vegan guy / vegan police. Sounds funny! Unfortunately all the dialog is awful and none of the jokes work. To me it feels fanservicey in the worst possible way - hey geeks like our movie because we filled it with stuff for you! I also hated most of the visual flourishes.

[Khaldun]

The Princess Bride would be the archetype of the movie that manages to have its own story and characters, memorably and movingly set out, and yet also be constantly referencing its own genre conventions in funny or ironic ways. The framing device is a big part of that, but the characters within the story sometimes generate that irony as well. ("Have fun storming the castle!")

On the other hand, part of the reason it works is that most of the audience is at least modestly familiar with the conventions of fairy tales and fantasy of this kind. That will not be true about World of Warcraft except in the ways that the lore, in typical video game fashion, is a derivative pastiche of books and stories, many of which were derivative pastiches in their own right. This is why video game movies almost never work out: they so very rarely are telling stories that are genuinely original stories, stories that we'd read or watch if we weren't *playing* them. Most of the time, the whole point is that we're consuming a familiar story in a new way, through interaction.

If they can figure how to make this at least watchable, they'll be geniuses.

[Venkman]

I enjoyed Galaxy Quest, but I did not think it was some seminal parody. It's source material was already a parody by that point, and everything from Ace Venture through Castle has mocked it to some degree. I agree though that Princess Bride is a great example of a successful blend of parody within a story rather than parody for the mere sake thereof.

For this movie, it all depends on whether Blizzard creative has a strong say or they let the licensee and licensor account reps handle it. I think Blizzard development has a good sense of its own humor. But there's subtle and then there's juvenile, and they seem inconsistent. But at least they're trying. A bunch of middle managers clawing at a movie deal career builder will tend to take themselves too seriously and try and outdo Peter Jackson in scale.

[Paelos]

What about a Knight's Tale?

[Zetor]

Does Zombieland count? 

[DraconianOne]

For this movie, it all depends on whether Blizzard creative has a strong say or they let the licensee and licensor account reps handle it. I think Blizzard development has a good sense of its own humor. But there's subtle and then there's juvenile, and they seem inconsistent. But at least they're trying. A bunch of middle managers clawing at a movie deal career builder will tend to take themselves too seriously and try and outdo Peter Jackson in scale.

The gleam of sunshine in all this is that, to date, Duncan Jones has shown that he knows his own mind when it comes to directing. He was offered the chance to direct the Judge Dredd film but turned it down because he knew what he wanted to do with it (he grew up reading 2000AD and is a big fan of Dredd) but it was different to what the producers had in mind and Alex Garland's script suggested. Basically, he turned down a dream job because it wasn't right. So if he's on board with the Warcraft movie then it may well be because he is sold on what they're trying to do.

Either that or he's sold out.  

[Ironwood]

All I'm saying is Scott Pilgrim Sucked Hard and I'm still a little confused how people here who are normally decent human beings could like it.

I thought Scott Pilgrim was funny as fuck.

Yes, it was you and Samwise in particular I was thinking of when I wrote that.

Maybe I'm just grumpy.  Who knows.

[Chimpy]

Maybe I'm just grumpy.  Who knows.

I am fairly sure everyone knows 

[Ironwood]

All I'm saying is Scott Pilgrim Sucked Hard and I'm still a little confused how people here who are normally decent human beings could like it.

It did have that pretty wee lassie from The Thing in it

She is rather lovely.

[HaemishM]

I can understand why someone would hate Scott Pilgrim, though I don't know why someone versed in video game lore would hate it. I just thought it all worked together in a campy sort of way that didn't take itself in any way seriously.

[Samwise]

I can also understand how if you hate all the visual flourishes you'd hate the movie, since that was a big part of what I liked about it.  I suspect Edgar Wright's directorial style is either love-it or think-it's-ADHD-as-fuck.

[UnSub]

To potentially derail the thread by crossing the streams, any WoW movie is going to be compared to LOTR / The Hobbit because that's the last major fantasy film the mainstream would have seen. So I'd expect something that was tonally and visually on-par with those movies.

[Margalis]

I don't see how the WoW movie isn't going to be trapped by that. I mean the "lore" (lol) of WoW is just Hobbit / Elf / Troll shit with some popular culture stuff thrown in. The question is where it will fall on the spectrum of Shrek to LOTR and how many terrible video-gamey fan-service things are going to be in there.

I don't really get how you can make a WoW movie. I mean, you can make a Mortal Kombat movie because MK has some identity. A "good" WoW movie is just LOTR.

Really curious to see where they go with this.

[Fordel]

How much say does Metzen have in this thing. They could make it Thrall's life story. 

[Trippy]

How much say does Metzen have in this thing. They could make it Thrall's life story. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803096/fullcredits

[DraconianOne]

How much say does Metzen have in this thing. They could make it Thrall's life story. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803096/fullcredits

Keep in mind that "Story and characters" is a necessary creative credit and he would get that simply by virtue of the film being set in Azeroth, featuring the Horde vs Alliance and having Jaina Proudmore as a character.  See also "Dredd" where John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra get credits despite having nothing whatsoever to do with the film.

Also, co-producer is a relatively meaningless credit that largely acknowledges a contribution to a movie that's financial or otherwise. (Fun fact - I am listed on IMDB as an Associate Producer for a film I haven't even seen.)

That's not to say that Metzen - or Blizzard - doesn't have some kind of veto on script development but you can't necessarily infer anything from the credits.

[Draegan]

Is there a Warhammer movie that's coming out first?

[Lakov_Sanite]

It would have to come out after the wow movie so it can follow suit and copy it.

[Cadaverine]

It would have to come out after the wow movie so it can follow suit and copy it.

 

I'd be surprised if this ever actually sees the light of day, but stranger things have happened.

[Mrbloodworth]

People keep bumping this. But yet there is no movie yet. A whole lot of nothing!

Pifft. FFS the porn has been out for years now.

[sickrubik]

People keep bumping this. But yet there is no movie yet. A whole lot of nothing!

Pifft. FFS the porn has been out for years now.

Says the guy who bumped it after 10 days.

[luckton]

People keep bumping this. But yet there is no movie yet. A whole lot of nothing!

Pifft. FFS the porn has been out for years now.

Can't help it if Rule 34 outweighs everything.  That's, like, nature doing it's thing, man.

[LK]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122528-Blizzard-Veto-Power-Kills-Raimis-Warcraft-Movie?utm_source=news&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all

It was my belief that the WOW factor of Legendary is what got Blizzard to pursue a film project with them in the first place -- without any foreknowledge of how films are made. I think that enthusiasm, and the realities of what it would take to make a Warcraft movie, have set in for them.

[Lantyssa]

He could always pitch his script to Games Workshop as a Warhammer movie...

[luckton]

Apparently, this is still a thing. Here, have an orc.

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/warcraft-orgrim-reveal-exclusive/

[sickrubik]

Why would it not be a thing? It was filming and they even moved it to summer showing some faith in it.

[luckton]

Why would it not be a thing? It was filming and they even moved it to summer showing some faith in it.

Eh..people know how Bliz projects go. Months turns into years...years into decades...etc. 

Would really like to see it in motion, but for a still-frame, not bad.

[DraconianOne]

Another production still from the same article

[Fordel]

Is that CG or a dude in makeup?

If it's makeup I am super impressed.

[Trippy]

CGI.