Announced at Comic Con and off an exclusive tip from AICN (Ain’t It Cool News), we have discovered that Sam Raimi, director of Darkman, Spiderman 1, 2, 3 and Drag Me To Hell is set to direct the massive World of Warcraft franchise into an epic film in partnership with Legendary Pictures whose head honcho projected the film’s budget at well over 100 million US dollars.

World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG of all time, with well over 15 million subscribers, premium computers designed with custom designs from its catalog, and even its own credit card.  Some have surmised that the value of a virtual World of Warcraft coin is greater than that of many of the world’s countries (at last check the value of the WoW gold piece ranked 77th in the world).

World of Warcraft fans have much to celebrate as Raimi’s unique mondo-movie style seems to translate well with what would normally be considered B-movie fare.  The world of Azeroth, where the mythology and lore of the World of Warcraft unfolds is rich with characters, races, classes, gods and history.  Thousands upon thousands of hours of gameplay and development offer an almost bottomless well of stories from which to draw ideas.

We can’t wait to see how this hugely popular MMO translates to the big screen, effectively setting a precedent for the MMO-to Hollywood migration.