Global online game 'World of Warcraft' heads for big screen.

'WORLD of Warcraft," the multiplayer online game with 6 million users worldwide, will soon come to a theater near you.

The game, produced by Vivendi Universal Games' Blizzard studio in Irvine, will be made into a feature film by Legendary Pictures, the production company based at Warner Bros., which will likely co-produce and distribute the film. Legendary put up half the money for Warner's "Batman Begins" and the upcoming "Superman Returns."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Daily Variety, in the only other video game film deal of comparable value, Universal and Fox paid Microsoft Corp. $5 million or 10 percent of the gross, whichever is greater, for the rights to "Halo."

"World of Warcraft" belongs to the family of online games called "massively multiplayer online role-playing games"--or MMORPGs as players know them. They involve elaborate parallel universes, where players assume an alternate identity and interact with hundreds of other players. The most popular game of its kind, "World of Warcraft" surpassed 6 million subscribers in March, each of whom pays a monthly fee to stay a part of the game. The game brought In more than $750 million in revenues last year.

As if that weren't enough, one of the creators of "Warcraft" was dubbed one of the 100 "People Who Shape Our World" by Time magazine this month. Rob Pardo, vice president of game design for Blizzard, made it into the Artists & Entertainers section of the most-influential people listing. The magazine suggested that Pardo's creation could be "the future of electronic entertainment."