Sam Raimi blames Blizzard for delays on World of Warcraft movie

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It's hard to believe that we've been hearing rumors of the World of Warcraft movie's pre-production for more than half a decade. The project finally seems to be moving forward, indicated by the announcement of Duncan Jones as new director in January, but the man he replaced, Sam Raimi, recently shared some insights into the nature of the film's delays.

Rodat's story was pitched to Blizzard, and according to Raimi, they accepted it with "reservations."

"Only once Robert was done did we realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn't know that," he continued. "And they had never quite approved the original story we pitched them. Those reservations were their way of saying, 'We don't approve this story, and we want to go a different way,' so after we had spent nine months working on this thing, we basically had to start over. And Robert did start over, but it was taking too long for the people at Blizzard, and their patience ran out. Honestly, I think it was mismanagement on their behalf."

As one of the few genuine PC gamers in Hollywood, I think Jones is a great selection, but as an Evil Dead fan (and a defender of the first two Raimi Spider-Man films as some of the best in superhero cinema), I'm still a little disappointed that he's no longer involved.

Len Hafer
Contributor

Len Hafer is a freelancer and lifelong PC gamer with a specialty in strategy, RPGs, horror, and survival games. A chance encounter with Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness changed her life forever. Today, her favorites include the grand strategy games from Paradox Interactive like Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis, and thought-provoking, story-rich RPGs like Persona 5 and Disco Elysium. She also loves history, hiking in the mountains of Colorado, and heavy metal music.