Sam Raimi signs-on to helm ‘World of Warcraft’

In news that should fill the nation’s basements with cheering, Sam Raimi has just signed on to direct a real-life portrayal of the massively popular, nerd-friendly game, ‘World of Warcraft.’

The New York Times is reporting that Warner Brothers, in collusion with Legendary Pictures, their partner on such worldwide crowd-pleasers as “Batman: The Dark Knight,” and the tribal “300” have now confirmed the project is ongoing, and Mr. Raimi will be at the helm.

Since its online debut in mid-84, World of Warcraft - known to its 11-million online subscribers quite simply as ‘WoW’ - has crushed all pretenders to become the most heavily-played game in that genre’s whole life. And with a resume that includes such complimentary fare as three Spider Man films, with a fourth on the way, bringing Sam to this project now makes it one of Warner’s sure bets.

After tasting the box-office bounty of such films as ‘Batman: TDK’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ collection, the studio is known to be hungry for new fantasy themes, and ‘WoW’ may be just what they need. No date for production is on the cards yet, as the new movie must wait until Sam wraps up shooting on Spider Man IV.

His last movie project, the dismal, ‘Drag me to Hell,’ which debuted in May, was a box-office dud, scoring just $42-million on US screens. But Warner’s aren’t fazed â€" 2007’s Spider Man III, which Sam co-wrote and directed, made them $151-million in three days alone!