Image copyright Universal Pictures Image caption Jones has said the film's appeal has to be wide enough to reach those who have not played Warcraft

As the first full trailer for next year's Warcraft film is released, director Duncan Jones explains why he thinks this video game-based movie won't be a let-down like so many before it.

Twenty years ago, even though he didn't know it, Duncan Jones was starting preparation for the biggest movie of his career so far.

In the mid 1990s Jones, an avid gamer, was immersed in the world of Azeroth in the first Warcraft real-time strategy game, Orcs and Humans.

Image copyright AP Image caption Jones joined the Warcraft film in 2013 after the departure of Sam Raimi

Cut to 2015, and Jones - now an acclaimed film-maker - has spent almost three years working on the fantasy epic Warcraft: The Beginning that will hit cinemas in June 2016.

"They've been trying to make this film for a long time," he tells the BBC down the line from Los Angeles.

"When I came in I pitched what I thought it should be: essentially a war story where the story is told from both sides and both sides can be empathised with - and that is the film that we made."

The Warcraft movie has been in development since 2006 when it was first announced by the game developer Blizzard Entertainment. Jones came on board in 2013 after the departure of Sam Raimi who had previously been at the helm.

Jones - the son of David Bowie - and his British producer Stuart Fenegan had already been behind two well-received sci-fi films, cult indie hit Moon and time-travel thriller Source Code. But this $100m fantasy movie is by far their biggest project to date.

Image copyright Universal Pictures Image caption The film will aim to tell the stories of both sides involved in the war

So why does Jones, 44, think Warcraft will buck the trend of disappointing video game adaptations for the big screen?

"Stuart and I are always looking for challenges!" he laughs.

"We are both very familiar with the track record of games to movies. I think the key is that we actually come from a generation of people who are games players.

"I'm a film maker who started on the Atari and then went onto the Commodore 64 and the Amiga. So I possibly have a different sensibility to people who didn't play games growing up.

Image copyright Universal Pictures Image caption Jones is keen to include characters he can empathise with

"I'm looking at what makes it appeal to me on a story level and who are the characters I can empathise with.

"I don't think it's necessarily what the source material is - I think it's about the respect that you treat it with and how you find the core that makes it worth caring about."

The long-awaited trailer, which was released on 6 November, gives the first proper look at the vast realm of Azeroth and the arrival of fearsome Orc warriors fleeing their dying home. The cast includes Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper and Toby Kebbell.

At the beginning of 2015, Blizzard Entertainment announced that 100 million subscribers had played World of Warcraft over the game's lifetime.

Huge fanbase

Jones knows how passionate those fans can be and the pressure that brings.

"The gaming audience spends huge amounts of time in those worlds. They know them backwards and they have a unique perspective because not everyone does the same thing.

"So the challenge is to find a way to pull together those elements that means something to everyone."

But the director also knows he can't just rely on the support of hardcore gamers at the box office. Warcraft has to work for people who've never ventured into the world of online role-play.

"There's a huge fanbase for this game but it would be wrong to assume they are all going to turn up.

"There needs to be a broader audience. I don't think the film would be as good if you were filling it with in-jokes and storylines that assumed too much knowledge."

With the post-production work on Warcraft: The Beginning complete, Jones and Fenegan are turning their attention to a new film Mute, set 40 years in the future in a Berlin described as "a science fiction Casablanca".

The cast includes Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd and Moon star Sam Rockwell.

Jones says he is thrilled to be getting the project off the ground after 12 years of planning.

He points out that when he first met Rockwell, it was Mute - and not Moon - that he was originally pitching to make. "It's been a long time coming," he admits.

With his father having just announced a new album for 2016, it looks like next year will be a big one for Bowie and son.