Warcraft (Movie)

[Totenkindly]

Well, at long last this is coming out, but it looks (as expected) like it's going to tank badly.

Which is a shame, because it has eaten up a number of years of time for director Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son), who also made two nice, interesting little movies -- "Moon" and "Source Code" -- and had big things on the horizon but then got stuck with this dog.

The long production time (four years?) on this means the animation is even more outdated than it was when production started (which you can see if you've seen the trailers), plus it looks like just your cliché mishmash of fantasy license elements dumped into a movie. I didn't even much like playing the WoW expansions dealing with these guys, and now they spent four years making a movie rehashing it.

Reviews are starting to dribble out; RT only has five (almost most from "Top critics") and so far at a 40%, and one of the two positive reviews says "the movie doesn't suck" (as a glowing endorsement) and that he would enjoy seeing a double-header with Warcraft and either Legend, Ladyhawke, or Beastmaster, so... there ya go. MetaCritic only has four reviews so far, but it's hitting only a 29... pretty abysmal.

About the only point of interest is the minor intersection with the AMC "Preacher" show -- apparently the King and Queen in the human side of things are played by Dominic Cooper ("Jesse Custer") and Ruth Negga ("Tulip"), who now are also apparently dating / living together IRL if reports are to be believed. It's like someone footed the two of them $160 million to join a virtual Match dot com.

Maybe something will be salvageable here, but... not looking good.

 

[ZNP-TBA]

Sounds like they're just tapping a well-established brand for $$$$ like the latest Star Wars consumer craze.

 

[tinker683]

I strongly suspect the movie will be well received by the fans: Those who really like the game, and it's history. But otherwise, it's not going to do so well. I predict it's going to be very well intended, but all over the place as it's trying to do too much in a short span of time, much like Batman v Superman.

Which is a shame, but not unsurprising. I always thought Warcraft would have been better served as a TV series, much like Game of Thrones, as the pacing would have been better and due to the sheer volume of stuff that's happened since Warcraft: Orcs and Humans ------> Warlords of Draenor.

I will still go and see it, just because I want to see what they did, but that's just me.

 

[Totenkindly]

Sounds like they're just tapping a well-established brand for $$$$ like the latest Star Wars consumer craze.

It was funny when schlock director Uwe Boll supposedly pleaded for a shot at directing the film and was told there was no chance in heck they would let him ruin the property (since he had handled some other game-licensed movies and did a shoddy job). But yes, it clarified they were tapping into their licensed property of Warcraft and want a return on their investment; the game membership numbers dropped significantly in recent years.

They have also branched out into a lot of other non-MMO games, so they are no longer solely dependent on WoW for their revenue inflow (which was really really smart on their part), but here they seem to just want to get whatever they can from their established property. it does seem to be financially driven, versus artistically.

The 5 million subscriber base might go see it. And people with disposable income, if nothing else big is coming out. It's just that the $160 million budget is hard to make up for (along with the additional advertising costs) if you don't nail the first few weekends.

I strongly suspect the movie will be well received by the fans: Those who really like the game, and it's history. But otherwise, it's not going to do so well. I predict it's going to be very well intended, but all over the place as it's trying to do too much in a short span of time, much like Batman v Superman.

Which is a shame, but not unsurprising. I always thought Warcraft would have been better served as a TV series, much like Game of Thrones, as the pacing would have been better and due to the sheer volume of stuff that's happened since Warcraft: Orcs and Humans ------> Warlords of Draenor.

I will still go and see it, just because I want to see what they did, but that's just me.

I'd love to hear what you think about it, after you go.
(I'll watch it at home, in a few months, if it seems to be worth the time.)

I agree about the TV aspect. It seems really hard to condense all that into a 2-hour movie.

 

[tinker683]

I'd love to hear what you think about it, after you go.
(I'll watch it at home, in a few months, if it seems to be worth the time.)

I agree about the TV aspect. It seems really hard to condense all that into a 2-hour movie.

But of course m'lady!

//tips fedora

 

[Virtual ghost]

I think I will just leave this here.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I haven't played WoW (old skool here, I played Tides of Darkness and the expansions back in the 90s), so I wonder if knowledge of that game is a prerequisite to understand this film.

Would be cool if "I'm a Medieval Man" was in the movie.

"Why do you keep touching me?"

This looks like it will tank as badly as that Dungeons & Dragons movie. It just looks too niche.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I think I will just leave this here.

"WE'RE BEEEEING ATTACKED!"

 

[ZNP-TBA]

I never really played WoW, just scoped it out years ago, couldn't stick. I did play a good bit of ToD and WC3 which were pretty awesome. WC3 is older than shit but still has a respectable player base.

 

[Totenkindly]

I haven't played WoW (old skool here, I played Tides of Darkness and the expansions back in the 90s), so I wonder if knowledge of that game is a prerequisite to understand this film.

Well, if the movie actually has any value, it should be accessible regardless of whether you have played some version of Warcraft or WoW.

But I was sick of the Orc history plots in WoW before "Warlords of Draenor" (current expansion) ever released, and all Warlords was about was more of the same Orc subplot. Arggggg...... I got a character or two up to the 100 cap and then quit. it seems like there is so much more to the various races and history that could have been interesting. And it took them four years to make the movie, so ... I suppose maybe they thought they'd have this thing out to cross-market with Warlords when that expansion released last year, and they didn't even come close to timing it correctly.

 

[Eluded_One]

Not sure where you're getting at. Regardless of tomato score, not too recent movies like Terminator Genisys (26% rating) made 400 mil. As long as the fanbase is marginal enough to support the movie, it will be successful no matter what score it receives. If it does bomb, I'm pretty sure it'll still do much better than final fantasy: spirits the within.

Besides, the plot on sympathizing with orcs, their redemption, and breaking the stigma of their mindless savagery has sold millions of copies since warcraft 3. Personally, I prefer the heroic/villainous themes of good vs evil and sacrifice that is depicted in warcraft 2. I only play horde mainly to get buttlusted.

 

[Totenkindly]

Not sure where you're getting at. Regardless of tomato score, not too recent movies like Terminator Genisys (26% rating) made 400 mil. As long as the fanbase is marginal enough to support the movie, it will be successful no matter what score it receives. If it does bomb, I'm pretty sure it'll still do much better than final fantasy: spirits the within.

I think I'm getting that, at best, they will recoup more losses overseas than in the US. It turns out they are competing against Conjuring 2 (not good) in the USA that weekend, and another movie. The prediction is they will make $25 million USA opening weekend, against a $160 million budget + the advertising they have invested (which could easily be another $100 million); I'm not sure they will break even, even with overseas box office to draw from.

‘Warcraft’ Looks for Modest $25 Million Opening at U.S. Box Office | Variety

Ironically, I saw Terminator: Genysis and once I got over how they screwed up the beauty of the first two movies by retcon'ing stuff, it's probably my third favorite movie of the five (and I despise Jai Courtney, generally). I enjoyed it, as fluff action goes, and they did try to do something different with it. But despite making $400 million (which you are suggesting is a sign it was successful), that number was considered BAD enough in the projections that it looks like they've canceled further Terminator movies for the moment. it wasn't considered a success by any means, really.

Besides, the plot on sympathizing with orcs, their redemption, and breaking the stigma of their mindless savagery has sold millions of copies since warcraft 3. Personally, I prefer the heroic/villainous themes of good vs evil and sacrifice that is depicted in warcraft 2. I only play horde mainly to get buttlusted.

This is a movie, not a game. not sure what your logic is here, it's looking like it's going to be a large flop and might not get a sequel.

I was wrong about "four year" production, turns out they announced this in 2006 although they couldn't settle on directors and actors until 2012-2013.

 

[tinker683]

Ok, I saw the movie yesterday with some friends of mine. I will just put in spoilers what someone on the wow forums said as it perfectly states what I thought about the film

Movie critics aren't tearing it apart because it's a video game movie -- they're tearing it apart because they don't know the lore and the movie makes virtually no effort to explain anything whatsoever to the uninitiated. Characters and locations and details are name-dropped all over the place with no context as to who or what they are or what importance they have.

Many scenes are too short and end up feeling rushed or strangled of their potential, and many characters get such inconsequential screentime that it's hard to care about what happens to them. A number of events just feel strange where the film seems in a rush to get on to the next scene.

The movie looks great, the little easter eggs plastered all over the place for fans are awesome, but at the end of the day it's big on spectacle and remarkably thin on substance -- especially if you're not familiar with the setting. It's certainly not the worst thing to ever come out as many reviews are making it out to be, but many of the points of contention are not far off the mark, either. If there are future films to be had I can only hope that they slow their pacing down significantly and take the time to explore the setting and its characters properly... especially if we're talking about leading into WC3 territory where the characters are vital.

 

[entropie]

I am waiting for startrek

 

[Punderstorm]

Just watched the movie, I can definitely see why critics are panning it as really bad.

The acting and effects were really bad and the dialogue was so awkward! Everything about the characters seemed so forced and unnatural. Also the fact that they only randomly decided to give you the locations and names, for example, the beginning took place in the Hellfire Peninsula(when the orcs went through the dark portal) but the movie neglected to give us any of that information. Instead they only tell us scenes that take place in Stormwind or the eelwn forest. Also the fact that we basically have few named characters, I still can't figure out the blue robed mages name or the man dudes name. I may not know all the lore or people included but still it was bad.