Sam Raimi is going in a curious direction with his planned “World of Warcraft” movie, simply titled “Warcraft.” Is he aiming for prestige by plucking war movie vet Robert Rodat to craft the world of what is now being called “Warcraft”? The adaptation of the popular online role-playing game remains a project still in incubation, but Rodat, writer of “Ryan” and “The Patriot,” is settling in to be the first of, we predict, four major screenwriters tasked with squeezing a compelling narrative out of this property.
“We want to be really faithful to the game,” Raimi says. “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 ’cause it’s expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture.” It looks like Raimi is no idiot, since no one can recall any real narrative of the game, and an original “Warcraft” narrative is up everyone’s sleeve. The world doesn’t need a cheap knockoff of “Lord of the Rings,” but if it does, it might as well be Sam Raimi at the helm, and with a cameo by Bruce Campbell. The only way we see ourselves enjoying it is if it’s super campy like the Raimi-produced “Hercules” and “Xena” series.
Raimi’s currently planning for an early-’10 shoot for “Spider-Man 4,” but with the amount of projects he’s lined up for, he’s probably done with the web-slinger. “Warcraft” could be next, but he’s also been attached to adaptations of “The Shadow” and the Tom Cruise project “Sleeper” but he could also easily return to Ghost House Pictures and do another horror quickie a la “Drag Me To Hell.” Yes, nerds, give up- “Evil Dead IV” is most likely dead.