E3 06: World of Warcraft headed for Hollywood

LOS ANGELES--World of Warcraft has been rumored to be jumping platforms to the Xbox 360 for some time, but if The New York Times is correct, the next jump it makes will instead be to the world of film.

The Times is reporting that Blizzard will announce Tuesday that its massively successful, massively multiplayer online role-playing game is set to be made into a big-budget fantasy picture along the lines of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, with Warner Bros.' Legendary Pictures handling the production.

Director, cast, release date, and budget are all undetermined as of yet, but the paper quotes Blizzard CEO Paul Sams as saying that the goal is to make "one of the best films in the world," a World of Warcraft pic that will appeal to gamers and nongamers alike. He said Legendary Pictures management was keenly attuned to what Blizzard wanted out of a World of Warcraft film. Legendary's first film was Batman Begins. Other projects being brought to the big screen by Legendary Pictures include Superman Returns, The Ant Bully, Where the Wild Things Are, and Frank Miller's 300.