Uwe Boll wanted to do WOW movie
Renegade film director Uwe Boll has told MTV that he approached Blizzard for the film rights to World of Warcraft.
He was not-so-politely refused. According to Boll, “I got in contact with [chief operating officer] Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, ‘We will not sell the movie rights, not to you… especially not to you.'”
Boll is the director of a string of game-licensed films – including BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark, Postal, House of the Dead, Dungeon Siege and the forthcoming Far Cry – that have been poorly received by gamers. So much so that Boll famously challenged his critics to a series of boxing matches.
“Because it’s such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it,” said Boll of Blizzard’s decision.
Blizzard did eventually sell the movie rights, however. A live-action Warcraft film is in production by Legendary Pictures, the outfit behind Batman Begins and 300. It’s currently slated for a 2009 release, although no director or cast has been attached as yet.
