WarCraft movie details, concept art

During BlizzCon 2013 a panel consisting of Blizzard’s Rob Pardo, Chris Metzen, and Nick Carpenter, and film director Duncan Jones and visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer, dropped some details about the upcoming WarCraft movie.

The movie is planned for a December 2015 launch, with filming to begin in early 2014.

It is set in the era of the First War, and stars Anduin Lothar of Stormwind and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan, both heroes from WarCraft II. The plot will follow the story of first contact between humans and Orcs.

The BlizzCon panel described how the film will balance the tales of both heroes, and try to mirror the experience of the game players, who have previously experienced both sides of the conflict.

While the humans are easy to relate to, for those unfamiliar with the series it is worth noting that Orcs are actually a noble, shamanistic race who were corrupted by the demonic burning legion before waging war on the humans. Durotan represents the noble origins of the uncorrupted Orcs.

The film will use a hybrid of live-action footage and CGI, with actors used for the Orcs and humans. Industrial Light & Magic (the LucasFilm special effects company) will be working on the film.

Westenhofer described it as an “extremely complex endeavour for visual effects” along the lines of “Avatar meets Game of Thrones in terms of complexity.”

Jones wouldn’t confirm any actor’s names, but said that actors had been chosen.

Check out the concept art below.