Super Mario Bros. Mortal Kombat. Tomb Raider. Wing Commander. Max Payne… Movies inspired by video games have a dicey history in Hollywood. The next one up is Warcraft, due out in June 2016. On Saturday at Comic-Con, Universal and Legendary screened seven minutes of the film for salivating fans, showcasing its state-of-the visual effects. We talked to the movie’s writer-director, Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code), and its Oscar-winning effects/costume design whiz Richard Taylor (The Lord of the Rings) to find out how they plan to be the exception to the rule that game-based films stink.



View photos

Here is their roadmap to building a better video-game film.

It’s all about the story — not the fact that it was a video game.

“I can’t even begin to explain about what happened to previous video-game movies; I’m sure they took them seriously but something was missing from those movies,” Jones said. “ I wanted to tell a war story from both sides, and allowing the audience to really empathize and care about both sides, and the fact that there were heroes who could not find a way to avoid this conflict. That to me doesn’t have to be a video game. That could be a story told in any genre. The fact is that it fit beautifully with Warcraft.”

View photos

Serve the fans.

On the other hand, while you want to make sure that the film has a well-rounded story, you can’t just eschew all the things that made people love the game in the first place.

“We were sneaking in Easter eggs right up until the last minute,” Jones teased. “All the way through, both on the physical production side of building sets and building the marketplace in Stormwind. Signs that we had up on doors and walls and noticeboards and post boxes and all sorts of things that people would know from the games. That’ll be a drinking game at some point.”

Jones also teased a tweak to the roster of orcs that could give the story some more heart. Enter Draka, Durotan’s wife, as played by Anna Galvin in motion capture.

“There is a character who was always written smaller but through the course of production was working out so well, soulful and empathetic, we just grew her character,” he said. “She’s just fantastic. I feel very confident that no one will see her coming. That will be a memorable character.”

Work with the best in the business.