My wife recently introduced me to StarCraft by explaining that I could watch over her shoulder as long as I did it quietly and got her an iced tea every once in a while. As a non-gamer who is foolishly naive about that world, the look of the thing blew me away. It’s gorgeous. Impeccable. Cinematic in every detail.
In a way, Blizzard has already made a StarCraft movie – it’s in the game. You have to play it to see it.
In the truest way (writing a script, shooting it, and editing it), though, the world has yet to see the glory of this game’s potential on the big screen.
In a recent interview, EVP of Game Design Rob Pardo explained the difficulty in finding the right people to work with – mentioning that they’d be game if James Cameron was. It makes sense, but Blizzard shouldn’t wait for Cameron.
- For one, Cameron is notoriously distant about his projects. They come few and far between (except for, theoretically, Avatar 2). The world doesn’t want to wait that long to see the Terrans, the Zerg and the Protoss beating each other to hell and back in IMAX.
- Neither does Blizzard. Taking advantage of the huge success of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty should be a top priority, especially if they are already in talks to create a film version of the franchise.
- Plus, Cameron isn’t the only director out there that might excel with the subject matter. Peter Jackson with his WETA ties is an obvious choice. Neill Blomkamp could stretch his wings here. Martin Campbell is currently on Green Lantern (which, from what we’ve seen, looks like a space opera) and could handle the battle sequences with a keen eye. Hell, what’s Nick Castle up to these days?
- On second thought – it’s also a great opportunity for whomever directed the in-game cinematics to prove themselves on a bigger scale. They look beautiful, and it’s wildly apparent that the team who made them have an eye for interesting camera work.
It’s clear that Blizzard isn’t twiddling their thumbs in the hopes that Cameron will be available. The sentiment is understandable; if James Cameron says he wants to work with you, you work with him. However, it’s my sincere hope that Blizzard is moving forward steadily with the right film partners because a StarCraft movie could be a metric ton of awesomeness unleashed upon the cinema.
Who do you think could handle that world?
News source: MTV