After keeping quiet for what seems like eons, Blizzard Entertainment has an update on the movie based on its super-popular game series, Warcraft.

The Irvine company announced late Tuesday that Sam Raimi, of  recent Spider-Man movie fame, “will bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in epic live-action  film.”

Raimi directed the Spider-Man trilogy (starring actors Tobey Maguire and Kristin Dunst), so he knows a thing or two about comic books, fantasy, and live action. Raimi also wrote and directed “The Evil Dead” and “Drag Me To Hell,” and produced “30 Days of Night.”

The Warcraft movie, which was first announced three years ago, has not had much publicity since then. At the time, we learned that Blizzard was teaming up with Legendary Pictures, an affiliate of Warner Brothers, to make a film based on its Warcraft game franchise.

Since then, the film crew has added Charles Roven (“The Dark Knight”) as producer and Blizzard’s own Chris Metzen, the company’s senior vice president of creative development, as a co-producer.

“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story,” Raimi said in a press release. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”

No mention if he’s for the Horde or Alliance. But Paul Sams, Blizzard’s chief operating officer, is fine with the guy:

“Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have a shared vision for this film and we searched at length to find the very best director to bring that vision to life,” Sams said in a statement. “From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We’re looking forward to working with him to achieve that here.”

All this coincides with Comic-Con, the great comic book and art convention in San Diego. Anyone going?

Elsewhere on the web:

• AICN Exclusive Confirmed: Sam Raimi is going to direct WORLD OF WARCRAFT!!! (Ain’t it Cool news)
• Blizzard’s official press release
• Want To Learn Some Details About The Proposed WORLD OF WARCRAFT Film?! (Ain’t it Cool news, 2007)
• Game Maker to Put Product on Big Screen (NY Times, from May 2006)