Box-Office Analysis: 'Warcraft' Avoids "Utter Failure" But Will Still Lose Money

[Tempguy]

The Tauren in the movie likely contributed to it being an "utter failure"

(Huff, Huff,)

/Wipes sweat from brow


I...whew! I saw what you did from way over there

/points to hill far off in the distance

I came here to tell you I saw...what you did.

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Which is part of the problem. People who don't play WoW have a stigma against the Warcraft franchise. For JoeSixPack, the Warcraft movie is for losers and doesn't want to be associated with them. But hey, Lord of the Rings was a cool movie to JoeSixPack.

This I believe played a part of the lack of sales in USA. If the progression of the movie were to move to Lich King territory, the sales would be very different. From what I've seen in the movie, the second Warcraft movie would be the conclusion of First War between humans and Orcs. The 3rd movie is where we'll begin to touch onto the Lich King story, and from the negative comments here on the forums, we'd be lucky to see a 2nd movie. .

I don't know why fans keep harping about how Warcraft was different than LOTR like that is to be proud of. Each time I hear one say that line, I hear "why would I want my company to be like APPLE? it's good that it performed like Enron's last few months"

Horrible analogy...sue me

But my point stands. LOTR was good. You don't have to reboot it and call it Warcraft, but it would have been a good idea to take some notes.

Also, I personally feel that starting with the first war was a bad idea. I have yet to meet a WoW/Warcraft fan who gives 1 single fuck about the first war. It is as generic as they come and it is a bad story.

What should have happened is to start off with Arthas's storyline. Follow him and a few key warcraft figures like Jaina and Varian and have them react to demons and undead and shit. Then end the movie with Arthas' descent into madness. The next film finish it up with him as the Lich king.

Then make prequels or sequels with your well established franchise that gathered more than just players of the game. That is when you pull out the generic ass Orc v humans story that tells the origin of these two factions, er, I mean baby green jesus.

[melodramocracy]

It was a decent enough flick, and I didn't have particularly high hopes going into the theater. Lacking in some areas, surprisingly good in others. My better half, who has no idea about the games, had no trouble following the plot at all.

As far as reviewers go, I tend to disagree with them often enough to not consider them much of a good measure of what I should / should not be watching.

[Tackhisis]

the second Warcraft movie would be the conclusion of First War between humans and Orcs.

There was no second war. The orcs have already lost.

Mograine finding that dark crystal that would eventually be used to create the Ashbringer.

It is a movie. Who cares about Ashbringer and similar stupid in-game shit?

[Thoughtful Trolli]

I mean you could tell they put a hell of a lot of effort into all of it, but the biggest loss was their focus on a sub-quality "Whodunit" beginning, when most high-class fantasies in all existence start you out with chasing a glorious Macguffin.

[Djuntas]

Again, the movie was the first war. Warcraft 1. None of was around for Warcraft 1.

Hm thats makes sense I'm hoping for a sequel then.

[Vash The Stampede]

There was no second war. The orcs have already lost.

Doesn't look like that to me. The Orcs were still alive and well, as well as Gul'Dan.

It is a movie. Who cares about Ashbringer and similar stupid in-game shit?

It would be to setup for the battle between Lich King and Tirion in a future movie. But having things like that crystal which would later be used to create the Ashbringer. These are things movie buffs love to analyze.

[zenkai]

Again, the movie was the first war. Warcraft 1. None of was around for Warcraft 1.

I didn't play WC1 but someone had put a youtube video together of all the story cut scenes in WC1 2 and 3, I played WC2 and 3, I think it was good they stared with one, I hope they do 2 before they jump to 3 even though 3 was my favorite.

All they have to do to win an Oscar in 2 is saying how Thrall enduring than escaping slavery is a parody of slavery in America and boom, instant win

[Tackhisis]

Gods of Egypt are the most popular example of a bad fantasy movie.
ID2 is doing much better than Warcraft.
Tarzan, being an ultimate failure, will probably get x3 Warcraft's domestic box office.

[Tempguy]

If this is true for Warcraft, then there is a shitload of other movies losing money, like indeed Pacific Rim, Godzilla or Prometheus.

And films like
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=id42.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tarzan2016.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/...usters2016.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=godsofegypt.htm

..are doing similar or worse.
I wonder why they don't draw such articles or such hate...well, except the new Ghostbusters?

Gonna be real. Beyond this forum, few if anyone is talking about the Warcraft movie. Most honestly already forgot most likely.

So I don't know what to tell you. Folks don't care about it as much as you think.

[Tempguy]

You are looking purely domestic? I really don't understand the point of that. Yes, Tarzan is making more domestically. As is ID2. But at a budget of 180 million (and a worldwide marketing budget) a company would look at nothing else but the international growth (for pure profit - maybe they look at the domestic market for prestige)

Domestic = more of a ratio of ticket sales go to the studio. Example (numbers just to show point and not to be taken as accurate)

U.S. Gross = 100 million. Theater keeps 25% and studio gets 75% . Studio made 75 million.
Foreign Gross = 300 million. Theater keeps 75% and studio gets 25%. Studio made 75 million.

So in that scenario, you would pay a hell of a lot more attention to Domestic sales and push harder for that. Like I said (Bolding cause some people ignore shit) the numbers I used are just to show a point. I don't know what the ratio is, but foreign ticket sales produce less bang per ticket sale for the studio here. That goes for all films.

[Tempguy]

Thanks for that reply. I also dug around a bit and found this, posted it also in another warcraft movie thread.

https://www.quora.com/What-percentag...s-of-the-movie

Some interesting points in that. especially interesting that the author clearly states how a lot of the ways in which money is distributed is not disclosed. Other than the people here who claim to know 100% how the system works.

Plus this : "This is why studios bank EVERYTHING on global blockbusters. The USA/Canada can no longer support the massive budgets. To that end, key sales markets like China and the EU are targeted for successful movie making. China is catching up to the USA and it is why movie makers now aim to produce in and feature stars from China.

"Pacific Rim", which failed in the USA, was made financially viable by capturing the Chinese market.

True. I do admit, China is still very viable. I feel that is what they mean by "global". They mean China. 1 billion people is a lot. America has a bit over 300 million and can generate about that much at the box office and more. Imagine what China can do?

If India ever becomes a major market for US movies then it will be treated equally as important.

So I think that is why the foreign markets are becoming a big deal. Cause of sheer volume of possible sales being able to make up for whatever deals the studios work out. And if it ever gets to a point where domestic profits is equal to foreign, America will fall off the map in regards to importance.

[Deleted]

What is it about modern movies nowadays? A lord of the ring film is about $93 million piece, and the inflation to today is negligible, why do new movies cost so much? Do you have any theory? Abandonment of practical effects?

[Eats Compost]

They couldn't decide on whether they wanted to make a people for people who already knew the characters, or whether they wanted to make a movie for the general public. Big mistake.

They could have made a much better movie if they were willing to:
A) Fall back from the source material even further, cull characters and simplify the whole thing to create a more cohesive entry-level story, or;
B) Double down on sticking with the source material, spend much less time explaining/building up new characters and get into the meat of the fanservice quickly

Instead, what we got was a jumble of characters and concepts, each one with minimal relevance, that kept trying to jump back and forth between appealing to the "I've seen LotR and this seems like that" and "I've played WoW for 10 years" audiences. The movie was played "safe" in a way that stopped it being great for any single demographic, so it's really not surprising that it didn't turn out great.

That said, it wasn't the level of trash that most video game movies turn out to be. There were clearly some people involved who were committed to making it good, to their best of their abilities. That's reflected in the fact that it wasn't a total disaster. Still, they (with "they" probably being a variety of parties with a financial interest in the movie) couldn't get to grips with what audience they were going for and how they actually wanted to use Warcraft to appeal to them, and that's why it turned out the way it did.

[Tackhisis]

The lack of direction is what doomed this movie.
You don't have a captivating story which diverts your attention from the details, like in LotR.
You waste money building life-size sets, but don't spend enough on plastic ears and the resulting junk just crosses the job the other teams done.
You waste money on elaborate dresses, but cannot force actors to take their roles seriously, and cannot write dialogs to keep them from gagging between the shots.

If you want make a $160 movie, you need stuff who can handle such a budget, and they obviously didn't have it.

[Arkthugal]

There was no second war. The orcs have already lost.

No they haven't? There are some slight differences, but they're still in a pretty strong position, and Gul'dan is still in charge, which I don't think he was after Blackhand's death in the original lore. That's gotta introduce some changes.

Mind, I imagine mostly it means Gul'dan taking up Doomhammer's position for most of the Second War, possibly including killing Anduin and then getting wrecked by Turalyon.

[Tackhisis]

No they haven't? There are some slight differences, but they're still in a pretty strong position, and Gul'dan is still in charge

They are just remnants of a warband against all the Alliance races. If there will be a sequel, it will be set in about 20 years after the first.

[Sorrior]

As expensive as it is, the movie should have been cgi. Entirely opinion I know, but Blizz knows how to make sick trailers.

Honestly if Blizzard moved to making movies they would make fucking bank no doubts about that

[Deleted]

Honestly if Blizzard moved to making movies they would make fucking bank no doubts about that

I didn't dislike the film but it wasn't anything like as good as the cinematics Blizzard produce.

They should get their own team to produce a film.

Additionally, they need to stop using the warcraft name, at least outside China. Call it something else. I don't think Blizzard understand how negative the name is or the association with video games in general outside of people who actually play them. The story and the animations are strong enough to stand on their own and the WC community will know about it anyway.

[Arkthugal]

They are just remnants of a warband against all the Alliance races. If there will be a sequel, it will be set in about 20 years after the first.

And if you'll recall, they made a damn good push with those same forces back in Warcraft 2, or did you forget that they got the trolls and at some point Deathwing on their side?

[Tackhisis]

they made a damn good push with those same forces back in Warcraft 2, or did you forget that they got the trolls and at some point Deathwing on their side?

They have 15 years of build-up on Azeroth and constant reinforcements in Warcraft 2. Trolls didn't join the Horde until it pushed quite far into Lordaeron.