A few days ago there was a rumor floating around that the World of Warcraft film, to be directed by Sam Raimi, would be called Rise of the Lich King and be based off one of the WoW spin-off novels. That was based on the fact that the IMDB listing had changed to reflect that title, and we never ran it for exactly that reason. Anyone can add to and change the IMDB, so it’s not to be trusted. Now, however, we know that the script will be an original story, and we know who’s writing it.

MTV reports that Saving Private Ryan screenwriter Robert Rodat will write the movie, currently being referred to as simply Warcraft. Raimi says,

We want to be really faithful to the game. We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a ‘World of WarCraft’ adventure. Only obviously it’s very different ’cause it’s expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture.

Granted, if you read all of Raimi’s comments at MTV, you’ll see that they all remain completely hypothetical. This one is a ways off yet, and it sounds as if there’s not much more than high-level spitballing going on in terms of getting the story together. (”I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.”)

In other words, Raimi and Warner Bros. realize that, with millions of subscribers, Warcraft represents a great franchise possibility, but that there’s an equally large opportunity to get it wrong and alienate the entire fanbase. WoW has myths and legends built into the story structure, and the film may end up adapting and expanding one of those, or simply referencing and building upon it with a full set of new characters.