Warcraft movie: Raimi blames Blizzard's "mismanagement" for delays

Sam Raimi has said Blizzard is at least partially to blame for his decision to give up directing the upcoming Warcraft movie.

Although Raimi has previously credited the chance to work on Oz as the motivation for his exit, he told Vulture Blizzard made things difficult.

"First, they asked me if I wanted to make it, and I said, 'Yes, I love World of Warcraft, and I think it would make a great picture.' So I read a screenplay they had that was written by the guys at Blizzard, and it didn't quite work for me. I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert, so we pitched it to Legendary and they accepted it, and then we pitched it to Blizzard, and they had reservations, but they accepted it," the director said.

"Then Robert wrote the screenplay, and only once he was done did we realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn't know that. And they had never quite approved the original story we pitched them. Those reservations were their way of saying, 'We don't approve this story, and we want to go a different way,' so after we had spent nine months working on this thing, we basically had to start over.

"And Robert did start over, but it was taking too long for the people at Blizzard, and their patience ran out. Honestly, I think it was mismanagement on their behalf, not to explain to us that the first story was vetoed long ago. Why did they let us keep working on it? Were they afraid to tell me?"

Blizzard itself has taken responsibility for delays to the project, insisting that it will make sure the movie is done right no matter how long it takes - but that it will happen.

Raimi was replaced by Duncan Jones, the fulfilment of a long-held dream, and the director seems pretty happy with his substitute.

"I loved his movie Moon, and I think he's a strikingly talented director. I bet that if anyone can do a great job with it, it's him," he said.

Thanks, IGN.