Warcraft Movie Lost Sam Raimi Thanks To Blizzard Running Out Of 'Patience'

Duncan Jones might be currently attached to direct Blizzard and Legendary Pictures' Warcraft movie, but that wasn't always the case. For a long time, Spider-Man and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi was developing the adaptation.

Earlier last year though, after a long span of time with no new updates on the film, Raimi reported that he had left the project. So what exactly happened? While doing press for his upcoming film, Oz the Great and Powerful, Raimi revealed what exactly went down.

Speaking to Vulture, Raimi revealed:

"Robert Rodat was working on the script, and it was taking a long time. I think they were getting a little antsy at Legendary, the production company. Actually, what happened was even more complicated, so let me go back a little bit. First, they asked me if I wanted to make it, and I said, 'Yes, I love World of Warcraft, and I think it would make a great picture.' So I read a screenplay they had that was written by the guys at [Warcraft developer] Blizzard, and it didn't quite work for me.

I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert, so we pitched it to Legendary and they accepted it, and then we pitched it to Blizzard, and they had reservations, but they accepted it. Then Robert wrote the screenplay, and only once he was done did we realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn't know that. 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, not to explain to us that the first story was vetoed long ago. Why did they let us keep working on it? Were they afraid to tell me?"

For those who don't want to dig through that quote, basically, Blizzard was unsatisfied with Raimi and screenwriter Robert Rodat's initial idea, but let them continue on to write the screenplay anyways. Nine months of writing later, the two find out that Blizzard actually has veto power on any draft, which was then used to more or less jettison all of that hard work.

What Sam Raimi is so upset about is not so much that Blizzard didn't like his idea, but that they allowed them to continue working on it, knowing full well they would probably reject it eventually.

That certainly sounds a bit unprofessional on Blizzard's part, and I could see why Raimi might have been so fed up that he quit the project entirely. After seeing what he did to the land of Oz, I can't help but wonder how interesting his Azeroth might have looked.

Still, the director isn't bitter, and ended the interview by wishing Duncan Jones well:

"I loved his movie Moon, and I think he's a strikingly talented director. I bet that if anyone can do a great job with it, it's him."

The Warcraft film currently has no release date set, but it is expected that it will require at least another two years of development.