The director of Moon and Source Code has signed a deal with Legendary Pictures to direct a live-action adaptation of hit videogame Warcraft.
Following the announcement, Jones tweeted: “So the gauntlet was thrown down ages ago: Can you make a proper MOVIE of a video game. I’ve always said it’s possible. Got to DO it now!”
The film, written by Blood Diamond scribe Charles Leavitt, will go into production this autumn for release in summer 2015.
Producers are Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni for Legendary and Charles Roven and Altex Gartner for Atlas Entertainment. Jones’ producing partner Stuart Fenegan will executive produce and Chris Metzen, who created the videogame for Blizzard Entertainment, will co-produce.
Warcraft was first released in 1994 as a strategy game, giving players power over virtual armies in battles against each other or a computer-controlled enemy. Set in the fictional land of Azeroth, it featured fantasy races of humans, elves, dwarves, orcs and trolls.
The latest, most popular selling title of the franchise is an online role-playing game titled World of Warcraft, which first launched in 2004 and now has more than 10 million subscribers.
Legendary acquired the film rights in 2006 and Sam Raimi was attached to direct but last summer revealed he had dropped out due to commitments on other projects.
Jones, the son of musician David Bowie, is represented by CAA, Independent Talent Group in the UK and Bloom Hergott.
His first film was low-budget sci-fi drama Moon, starring Sam Rockwell, in 2009, which he followed up with time-jumping thriller Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, in 2011.
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