Warcraft movie concerns first contact between orcs and humans

The upcoming Warcraft movie was discussed in a panel during BlizzCon 2013, with director Duncan Jones, visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer and a team from Blizzard giving first plot and character details.

IGN reports the film tells an origin story of first contact between orcs and humans.

Jones said the original plot was focused on humans and the Alliance, but has since expanded to embrace both sides of the factional divide to be about "being a hero no matter what side you're on". That way, Horde players won't feel left out of the experience.

“To tell a story where you’re really, honestly telling it from both sides - especially a war film - is unusual. The fact that we’re able to get an opportunity to do that is, on a story level, breaking a few barriers. I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of films with this structure," the director said.

Lothar and Durotan from Warcraft 2 will make an appearance. Durotan will represent the nobility of Orcs who are not corrupt, Blizzard's Chris Metzen said.

Live-action and CGI will be blended; orcs will be played by human actors, then transformed by the wizards at Industrial Light & Magic. Details will be as close to the game's as possible without being stupidly unrealistic, so swords will be as enormous as is feasible, for example.

As for locations, concept art was shown of Draenor, Dalaran, Stormwind and Ironforge.

The director apparently suggested he's aiming for a PG-13 rating, but highlighted recent Batman films as lower-rated movies that still satisfied adults.

Warcraft will begin filming early next year and is expected to release in late 2015. More details are expected at BlizzCon 2014.

For more from BlizzCon 2013, check out our coverage hub.