Movie Ibelin from World of Warcraft with Isabela Merced and Anthony Hopkins

A World of Warcraft franchise will return to cinemas in an unexpected way, focusing on a real story of human connection rather than epic battles. The feature film Ibelin, based on the life of Mats Steen, a young man who found friendship and purpose in the Blizzard MMORPG, was announced by Vendôme Pictures and Pathé studios (responsible for the Oscar winner CODA).

The project is a positive point that values the gamer community and demonstrates the potential of intimate stories based on videogames. The cast is of high level, including:

Charlie Plummer (Protagonist)

Stephen Graham

Toni Collette

Maisy Stella

Isabela Merced (in a major role after The Last of Us and Superman)

Sir Anthony Hopkins

The direction will be by Morten Tyldum, who has already been nominated for an Oscar for The Imitation Game.

The script of Ibelin, written by Ilaria Bernardini and Hossein Amini (Oscar nominated for Wings of Love), promises an intimate and human look, focused on the connections provided by the game, and not on the mythology of Azeroth. The production is set to begin in 2026, in Europe.

The real story of Mats Steen and his avatar "Ibelin" in World of Warcraft has already moved the audience. After his death in 2014, his family discovered, through his personal blog, the deep relationships he had built in the game due to his degenerative muscle disease, an emotional legacy that has already inspired the award-winning documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, shown in 2024.

Ibelin goes in the opposite direction of the commercial failure of the Warcraft film (2016), being less epic fantasy and more real drama. With a strong cast and a provenly emotional narrative, Ibelin stands out as one of the most promising videogame adaptations in the coming years.

Vendôme Pictures and Pathé studios have announced the film Ibelin, based on the real story of Mats Steen in World of Warcraft, directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Ilaria Bernardini and Hossein Amini. The cast includes Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham, Toni Collette, Maisy Stella, Isabela Merced, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. The film will have less fantasy and more human drama, and production begins in 2026 in Europe.