Whether the Warcraft movie will ever get a sequel is still uncertain, but if director Duncan Jones is to make it, he has clear conditions: “Less budget, more freedom”
“Under the right conditions, I would love to make a sequel,” said Warcraft movie director Duncan Jones recently in a Twitter message. When a fan asked further what he meant, Jones casually replied: “Less budget, fewer cooks in the kitchen.” What the filmmaker means is not catering, but more artistic freedom and fewer restrictions.
Blizzard had “reservations” about the Warcraft movie
Jones’ problem with Warcraft: The Beginning was that Blizzard intervened multiple times in the film’s development, severely hindering and ultimately ruining Jones’ plans. The director and his writer Robert Rodat already had an idea for the story and sent it to the studio Legendary. They liked it and gave their approval. However, Blizzard also had to be consulted. Although they accepted it, they did so only “with reservations”.
That was good enough for the two filmmakers, so they got to work and after nine months, the script was ready. But then Blizzard came along and said “No!” It was only then that the two realized that Blizzard with its “reservations” actually meant “We don’t like it!” Since Blizzard had veto power, Jones and Rodat ultimately had to write a new script.
Hurry up!
The new script took too long for Blizzard, and they pressured the writers and the director, which certainly did not contribute to the quality of the work. In the end, both the director and the writer were dissatisfied and accused Blizzard of mismanagement. After all, according to Jones, the gaming company could have just said right away that the first script was basically rejected. “Were they afraid to tell us directly?”
Therefore, Jones wants to avoid such hassle in the future and do his own thing in the next film. Whether there will even be a sequel to the rather moderately successful Warcraft movie is still uncertain.
Jürgen says: I found the Warcraft movie quite okay, but I noticed a few gaps and ambiguities in the script. It’s quite possible that these are the consequences of the problems with Blizzard mentioned by Jones. If Blizzard really let the writers toil aimlessly for nine months, only to end up saying “We never actually liked it and want a new script!”, then that’s really something!
By the way, don’t miss Cortyn’s film review from a Warcraft fan’s perspective as well as my rather neutral conclusion about the Warcraft movie.
