I actually thought about this idea, and I think WC3 lends itself well towards a campaign per movie set-up. Think about it:
Movie 1: Thrall leaving for Kalimdor, the introduction of Uther and Jaina, the rise of the Scourge, Arthas' slow descent into madness and the movie ending with him defeating antagonist Mal'ganis before running off into the snowscape. That's a well rounded story.
Movie 2: Undead Arthas waking up and learning of the Dreadlords, figuring out his powers, slaying his father, laying waste to Lordaeron and bringing Archimonde into Azeroth.
Movie 3: Thrall's landing in Kalimdor, the meeting of the Taurens and strife with the centaur, and then finding Humans in Kalimdor. A sub-plot from this point would be Grom Hellscream and his rage, antagonizing the humans from the get-go, and stumbling upon and killing Cenarius. Eventually the viewer finds out Jaina is leading them in a scene featuring the conversation with Medivh, to tie the entire thing back to Archimonde. Grom redeems himself by killing Mannoroth at the cost of his life, at the very end.
Movie 4: The scourge invades Kalimdor in full force, with the world tree being a backdrop that gets closer every seen as Tyrande rushes to wake up Malfurion, release Illidan and rouse the Druids. Eventually Jaina and Thrall show back up as the three races unite for a climactic 30 minute showdown between them and the legion.
I can see half of these scenes in my mind already. They all lend themselves very well to a longer, 3 hour time format. Come to think of it, WarCraft 3 actually had a pretty damn good story. Blizz storywriting is often criticized, but the way the story was presented, the plot twists, and the concept of "a good villain thinks he is right, a great villain is right" that works wonders with Arthas, Grom and Cenarius all provide a damn good piece of storytelling.
Yup, yup. What I'm hoping for would be a third or even fourth movie. It won't be the next one. That said, Thrall's time in Durnholde Keep and the story of how he got rid of the corruption of Gul'dan wouldn't make for a bad movie either.
I personaly enjoyed movie alot, but the diversity of magic shown in cgi feels somewhat lacking, especialy after i saw so many interviews with director who claimed this movie to be the most advanced in special effects department. I expected more diverse color palette for spells and something interesting, like almost trying to implement gameplay logic of spells into movie scene. This is what Lord of the Rings was lacking in my opinion (gandalf with flashlight from his staff = lame) and what i realy expected from Warcraft. (i mean, 4 years of filming, c'mon)
I'm pretty sure what the director was talking about here was Karazhan and Medivh, but really primarily the Orcs. I have to say they looked amazing in every sense of it.
Spoilers below
The movie wasn't the cheap popcorn flick I expected it to be, but it wasn't great either. It's a nice addition to the universe for fans of WarCraft, but I can imagine that those not into it already just spent a lot of time being confused or finding the story somewhat lame. The way Garona 'turns good' is absolutely unbelievable in the movie, even if it's obvious they really tried to make it a gradual explainable thing. We're seeing her go from being an Orc/siding mostly with Orcs to becoming a staunch protector of King Llane in a timespan of seemingly a week or so. Had I not known there was some more behind that in the universe, I would've thought this was an exceptionally weak plotline.
That said, I thought the storyline was okay, or at least better than average. It takes a couple of somewhat unsuspected turns, and in a world so saturated with stories that's a decent achievement. It's not a Game of Thrones level plot, but it's 'okay'.
What I am excited about, though, is the second war. I'd absolutely love to see one or two movies depicting the events of Tides of War and Beyond the Dark Portal, with Khadgar, Alleria and the likes going through to close it on Draenor. I mean: I'd also love four movies depicting the campaigns from Reign of Chaos, but Tides of War seems like an actual possibility.
@OutsiderXE: Go
I actually thought about this idea, and I think WC3 lends itself well towards a campaign per movie set-up. Think about it:
Movie 1: Thrall leaving for Kalimdor, the introduction of Uther and Jaina, the rise of the Scourge, Arthas' slow descent into madness and the movie ending with him defeating antagonist Mal'ganis before running off into the snowscape. That's a well rounded story.
Movie 2: Undead Arthas waking up and learning of the Dreadlords, figuring out his powers, slaying his father, laying waste to Lordaeron and bringing Archimonde into Azeroth.
Movie 3: Thrall's landing in Kalimdor, the meeting of the Taurens and strife with the centaur, and then finding Humans in Kalimdor. A sub-plot from this point would be Grom Hellscream and his rage, antagonizing the humans from the get-go, and stumbling upon and killing Cenarius. Eventually the viewer finds out Jaina is leading them in a scene featuring the conversation with Medivh, to tie the entire thing back to Archimonde. Grom redeems himself by killing Mannoroth at the cost of his life, at the very end.
Movie 4: The scourge invades Kalimdor in full force, with the world tree being a backdrop that gets closer every seen as Tyrande rushes to wake up Malfurion, release Illidan and rouse the Druids. Eventually Jaina and Thrall show back up as the three races unite for a climactic 30 minute showdown between them and the legion.
I can see half of these scenes in my mind already. They all lend themselves very well to a longer, 3 hour time format. Come to think of it, WarCraft 3 actually had a pretty damn good story. Blizz storywriting is often criticized, but the way the story was presented, the plot twists, and the concept of "a good villain thinks he is right, a great villain is right" that works wonders with Arthas, Grom and Cenarius all provide a damn good piece of storytelling.
@CybrosX: Go
Yup, yup. What I'm hoping for would be a third or even fourth movie. It won't be the next one. That said, Thrall's time in Durnholde Keep and the story of how he got rid of the corruption of Gul'dan wouldn't make for a bad movie either.
I'm pretty sure what the director was talking about here was Karazhan and Medivh, but really primarily the Orcs. I have to say they looked amazing in every sense of it.
Spoilers below
The movie wasn't the cheap popcorn flick I expected it to be, but it wasn't great either. It's a nice addition to the universe for fans of WarCraft, but I can imagine that those not into it already just spent a lot of time being confused or finding the story somewhat lame. The way Garona 'turns good' is absolutely unbelievable in the movie, even if it's obvious they really tried to make it a gradual explainable thing. We're seeing her go from being an Orc/siding mostly with Orcs to becoming a staunch protector of King Llane in a timespan of seemingly a week or so. Had I not known there was some more behind that in the universe, I would've thought this was an exceptionally weak plotline.
That said, I thought the storyline was okay, or at least better than average. It takes a couple of somewhat unsuspected turns, and in a world so saturated with stories that's a decent achievement. It's not a Game of Thrones level plot, but it's 'okay'.
What I am excited about, though, is the second war. I'd absolutely love to see one or two movies depicting the events of Tides of War and Beyond the Dark Portal, with Khadgar, Alleria and the likes going through to close it on Draenor. I mean: I'd also love four movies depicting the campaigns from Reign of Chaos, but Tides of War seems like an actual possibility.