The forthcoming film Warcraft is one of the most hotly anticipated video game adaptations on the movie calendar. Directed by Source Code's Duncan Jones, the lavish action fantasy has been in production for several years, and is one of next summer's key blockbuster releases.
However, a story in The Hollywood Reporter about the uneasy relationship between producers Legendary Pictures and distributors Universal, described the film as a "problem movie". While the article doesn't go into further details, the implication is that Universal don't consider Warcraft to be a guaranteed success, especially considering the film's huge budget.
Now Jones himself has taken to Twitter to emphasise Universal's confidence in the film:
@CLAWX I wouldn't worry about that. Universal moved us to the same date as Jurassic World, so we must have done something right!
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) September 16, 2015
Production on Warcraft wrapped in May 2014, and its release date has now moved twice. Originally scheduled for December 18, 2015, it was initially shifted to March 2016 to avoid a clash with Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens. In April this year it was moved again, to its current slot of next June.
Earlier this month, the first footage from the film was leaked online. The poor quality of the leak provoked some fans to speculate why Legendary didn't just release a trailer straight away, instead of waiting until November, leading Jones to joke about the quality:
@Willy_Foss @warcraftmovie you don't like it at low res and covered in user ids?!
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) September 1, 2015
Warcraft is due for release on June 10, 2016, and stars Ben Foster, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, and Toby Kebbell.