Easter eggs are surely one of the most fun elements of any franchise movie or adaptation. Appealing to the die-hard fans of the source material, filmmakers commonly add flourishes or details that reference something only long-time devotees will understand, and it’s often rewarding in both the watching and rewatching experience. Easter Eggs have added to titles from Marvel, Star Trek, Pixar and more – and soon that list will expand with the release of Duncan Jones’ Warcraft.
When the epic video game movie was in production back in early months of 2014, I had the pleasure of traveling with a small group of other film journalists to the set in Vancouver, Canada – and it was while talking with the production’s director that we learned about the future blockbuster’s inside jokes and references. The subject came up when Jones was asked about the location of Leeroy Jenkins – and while the filmmaker stayed mum on that point, he did assure us that fans will want to keep their eyes peeled for the entire feature:
There's a good amount for the Easter egg spotters out there. There's plenty of material to go around, keeping in the tradition of that.
So while Duncan Jones wouldn’t admit to anything on set, you should expect at least some kind of nod to the hilarity contained within this rather legendary viral video:
What may surprise you, however, is that Warcraft won’t only feature references to the video game it’s based on, but even elements of its own long path to production. Before Duncan Jones signed on to make the movie his third film after Moon and Source Code, Sam Raimi was originally attached to take the helm of the blockbuster – but obviously that didn’t entirely work out. Because of this, Jones decided to pay homage in the movie to the brilliant Evil Dead helmer – though it’s something that you’re going to really need to pay attention to in order to see. Said the filmmaker,
Speaking of Easter eggs, there's a [Sam] Raimi Easter egg in there as well - a little doff of the cap to him. But, you have to keep your eyes open for that.
Fans will still have to wait a tiny bit longer to find all of these Easter eggs themselves, with Warcraft not coming out until June 10, 2016 – but the good news is that we’re getting closer and closer to the release date with every passing moment. Watch the trailer again:
In the meantime, stay tuned for more of our in-depth coverage!
