Duncan Jones

‘Mute,’ Duncan Jones’ spiritual sequel to ‘Moon,’ is every bit an old-fashioned film noir, except it takes place in the future.

Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft) is not directing the Green Lantern Corps movie, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have something to say about it. The director took to Twitter today to share his opinion of the hero and how he would make him better. His solution: make him dumb.

Things have been fairly quiet around Duncan Jones’ Mute (sorry, I had to) for some time now. The Moon and Source Code director, also known for last summer’s Warcraft, started production on his latest film late last September, a project he intended to make his first feature before the Sam Rockwell-led space drama. Now that film is finally happening and Netflix has a first look at the lead cast and gorgeous futuristic set design.

The jump from more indie-fare like the subtle Moon and Source Code to this summer’s blockbusting Warcraft was, let’s say, unexpected, but director Duncan Jones’ projects usually have this uncanny way of working themselves out. Last week, Jones announced that he was starting to shoot Mute, the sequel to Moon, this week, the movie he originally wanted to make before he decided to have Moon be his first feature. Now, it looks like Mute is heading to Netflix.

With Warcraft out of the way, Duncan Jones now has time to finally start production on his passion project, Mute. Mute is a sequel of sorts to 2009’s Moon, although the idea for a Berlin-set futuristic sci-fi was germinating before Moon started. The project kept being put on hold again and again, as Jones was busy with Source Code and then this year’s Warcraft, but today he announced that he’s going to start shooting Mute next week.

Despite huge numbers in China, the future of the Warcraft franchise may hinge on how well it does on Blu-ray and DVD. To that end, Legendary Entertainment has started teasing the September 27 release date of the Warcraft Blu-ray with some new deleted scenes and special features. Clips like the one above also tease some of the extra footage that director Duncan Jones shot  —  and was forced to cut —  during the Warcraft production process.

Warcraft didn’t perform very well domestically, which isn’t entirely surprising considering that Duncan Jones’ adaptation of the popular video game franchise didn’t exactly have broad appeal. But as many predicted, Warcraft was a huge hit overseas, particularly in China, with the international box office grosses making it the most successful video game movie of all time. But are those international numbers enough to justify a sequel?

Who is the target audience for Warcraft? Based on the marketing materials, one might assume it’s for fans of Lords of the Rings: a high-fantasy action flick featuring orcs and dwarves, wizards and swords, mystical creatures and a hero who vaguely resembles Viggo Mortensen if you tilt your head just so. One might also assume that Warcraft was made for fans of World of Warcraft, the immensely popular multi-player online RPG that shares many of the same characters and basic narrative threads. But after actually seeing Warcraft, a different answer emerges: it’s for 13-year-old fans of Power Metal who run D&D games on the weekends and spent their allowance on a commemorative replica of the One Ring.

If you found yourself a little underwhelmed by the previous Warcraft trailer, the latest one is definitely more action-centric, offering plenty of new footage and lots of that crazy fantastical magic-and-creatures-and-orcs business that made the original game series so popular. And if that doesn’t sound like your cup of mead or whatever, then this new trailer probably won’t sway you.

Let’s take a break from Batman and Superman for another epic battle — the Alliance vs. the Horde, aka Warcraft. The international trailer for Duncan Jones’ adaptation of the hit MMORPG has arrived, bringing lots of new footage as the two factions prepare for all-out war, and two races unite to protect their future. Orcs and humans fighting together, mass hysteria, etc.