SDCC 2014: WARCRAFT Panel and Teaser Footage Recap

Legendary Pictures first teased a “Warcraft” film adaptation at Hall H last year, now a year later they’re back. Moderating was IGN’s very old Jessica Chobot and taking stage, director Duncan Jones.

According to Jones, there is so much material to drawn upon that he believes its best to start from the beginning with an origin story the war between the Orcs and the Humans. He plans to address this need in order to bring people unfamiliar with the game to the property and plans to treat the adaption similar to how comic books were handled when being adapted to film. Jones also says the film is a technical challenge, similar to Avatar and The Lord of the Rings because of the world they are required to create to make it right.

From the footage teaser, we see both sides, the humans and the orcs. It opens with a human character taking about how he has spent more time protecting his kind than his own son, and is unsure whether that makes him honorable or a fool. It cuts to the orc who wonders about the varying sacrifices he has made to protect his kind.

One thing to note about the teaser is that it looks and feels very much like the game! Stormwind and the throne room look fantastic. The CGI is a work in progress but shaping up nicely. The film will be a mix between CGI and live action, very much like LOTR.

“Warcraft” is not set to drop until March 2016.