The World of Warcraft film has been on the lips of gamers for a while now. It was on their lips before it was even announced, and now it has a director: British filmmaker Duncan Jones.

A statement on the Warcraft Facebook page said: "We are pleased to announce that Duncan Jones, director of critically-acclaimed films Source Code and Moon, has signed to direct the upcoming live-action film based on the Warcraft universe." Given that the game has 10 million subscribers globally - making it the biggest world's biggest MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world, the film will have a huge stock audience, with numbers growing as talk heightens towards release. Jones - son of David Bowie - confirmed the news on his Twitter feed, posting: "So the gauntlet was thrown down ages ago: Can you make a proper move of a video game. I've always said its possible. Got to DO it now!"

Charles Leavitt, who was behind the 2006 thriller Blood Diamond will pen the script, which is due to start production in 2013 and hit theatres in 2015. Both have a giant task on their hands, as World of Warcraft fans know videogames, and they know fantasy cinema, and won't take a blip on their beloved franchise lightly.