A radical way to promote the Warcraft film

[Deleted]

Listen to this idea without prejudice:

What if the World of Warcraft film was to simply drop the "Warcraft" name from its title?

Why I believe the film isn't going to work: the associations the general public with video games are awful. There has been turkey after turkey made out of video games. With Warcraft in particular, those associations are especially negative. Talk to people who never played the game and you will usually get game addiction mentioned or that episode of South Park, and the term "nerds" will come up. These aren't good selling points. Warcraft has about the same branding potential as crack cocaine addiction.

I don't believe at this point that any one will be that curious about the film other than players and maybe young kids who haven't yet acquired any prejudices.

So, here's a radical idea. Don't mention warcraft in the title. Films with monsters, CGI and epic battle scenes do pretty well by themselves. And you can still get the warcraft player base to come along by communicating with them through the game client and warcraft media channels.

For a work of fantasy Warcraft has some unusually strong storylines and characterizations. People who have no interest in the game who asked me to explain my interest have frequently there enraptured if I mention the actual lore to them (something I don't do generally except when people won't take no for an answer, just in case you think I stand there at parties boring people). More than once people have said things like "I had no idea a video game could have that kind of depth". Maybe you've done this for yourself: I notice demographics that mostly never play immersive video games like young women become fascinated with characters like Arthas. Remember films like Twilight have dark, supernatural content not that far away from the warcraft mythos (and no I wasn't I fan of those films, that is not the point).

If you can translate that appeal to film then I could think you work past people's superficial impression of the game and its universe and get millions of new players.

Now I know why this won't happen. Some accountant is sitting in an office talking about units and crossover potential from film to game. That will not occur, because no one who has already managed to avoid exposure to the game will be converted to the game by the film. They might if they saw it but they won't go and see it. Even if they do, the knowledge that "it's a video game" will give them a powerful self-fufilling reason not to like it so they won't be a nerd. Maybe some older players will come back, but that's it.

If people really love the film, and then discover it is a video game, it is a different matter psychologically. It is much easier to hold onto a preconceived notion, than form an opinion and then contradict yourself internally.

So, do you think there's some truth to this? If not, why not? Curious to know other people's opinions.

[Pull My Finger]

Well you know. I don't think they would be making a Warcraft movie if they thought that the name and franchise would be a hindrance and if they thought they had to be ashamed of it.

[Deleted]

Well you know. I don't think they would be making a Warcraft movie if they thought that the name and franchise would be a hindrance and if they thought they had to be ashamed of it.

Have you ever had a conversation with anybody not playing the game who had anything favourable to say about it?

If they think that, I think they are in serious denial.

[Gourmandise]

I would name it Outland

[Deleted]

I would name it Outland

That would fucking rock.

I couldn't actually think of a good alternative title, thanks.

[Pull My Finger]

Have you ever had a conversation with anybody not playing the game who had anything favourable to say about it?

If they think that, I think they are in serious denial.

I know that a lot of people kind of look down on games in general and WoW in particular. It's one of the big names they're familiar with.

But I guess nobody's making a Warcraft film to reach all the people out there who have negative connotations with the name. I guess they think there's big enough of a potentially interested audience out there.

If you were making a new western movie, you wouldn't waste your time thinking about how to fool people who hate cowboys and horses into watching it. You count on the people who care to show up and watch the thing and that's all you can do.

[Deleted]

But I guess nobody's making a Warcraft film to reach all the people out there who have negative connotations with the name. I guess they think there's big enough of a potentially interested audience out there.

If you were making a new western movie, you wouldn't waste your time thinking about how to fool people who hate cowboys and horses into watching it. You count on the people who care to show up and watch the thing and that's all you can do.

But this is rather distinct from your cowboy example. You have to make it clear that a Western is a Western for people who like Westerns to know about it and watch it.

Now with Warcraft everyone playing the game will already know about the film. We all do already. If you call it "Outland" then most of the older players who quit will know also. So, your film marketing is just targetting people who will go and see it anyway.

Also, popular as Warcraft was, it is much less popular than the epic film fantasy genre in its entirety. There's the Harry Potter/LOTR/Twilight etc audience you can appeal to.

If your point is that film marketing execs probably don't fully understand the synergy between the video game client and film promotion, which is very likely, I agree with you, that's an insightful observation.

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I think it's actually a very solid idea. Warcraft has seriously bad reputation among non-gamers. Like, the Southpark episode about WoW is probably among the most popular episodes, there's a big chance among my friends that if they've only seen one episode of SP, it is this one.

EDIT: Outland sounds very cool. Can't really think of anything myself. Warcraft in itself sounds really cool actually but carries the "taint" you mention, unfortunately.

Thanks. It is weird about the SP episode. SP mocks everything mercilessly but people rarely take its deliberately gross caricatures that seriously, and they aren't supposed to. For some weird reason the Warcraft thing stuck.

[Pull My Finger]

Now with Warcraft everyone playing the game will already know about the film. We all do already. If you call it "Outland" then most of the older players who quit will know also. So, your film marketing is just targetting people who will go and see it anyway.

But that's the only thing they could possibly do anyway. It's a Warcraft film, it's a niche thing and they can only advertise it towards that particular niche. They're surely aware of that. If the Wacraft thing was such a problem, nobody would make it Wacraft. They would go: listen, can't we ditch this Warcraft thing and just make it a random fantasy movie?

It's not like Activision Blizzard funded the movie back to back so they HAD to make it Warcraft. They're doing it because someone out there believes that the franchise has a marketing value. Obviously not everyone believes it (remember the "Warcraft is a 'problem movie' thread). But that's another story.

Besides, it doesn't have to mean much that there's people out there that look down on the game. I'm pretty sure there are even more who don't have any opinion at all. They just have to get interested in the movie. That can happen either because it's good (I don't expect it to be) or because the buzz expands from the core audience (Warcraft fans) onto the broader mainstream. It can happen. You think it's hardcore comic fans that made all these superhero movies like the Avengers such a crazy success? The majority of these people who ran into the cinemas haven't bought a comic book in their life and never gave a damn about Iron Man or Captain America. I bet it you asked them before the movies were a thing, half of them would have said that comic books are manchildren bullshit.

[Gourmandise]

That would fucking rock.

I couldn't actually think of a good alternative title, thanks.

To be fair, it was only in my head because of this Outland, which was not a bad movie too :P

The superhero movies are a little different I think. For example I know a lot of people who love to go to these pure action and fantasy movies, but would never go to the Warcraft movie just because it is Warcraft.

I think we're going to have to have a good trailer to draw outside people in.

[Deleted]

But that's the only thing they could possibly do anyway. It's a Warcraft film, it's a niche thing and they can only advertise it towards that particular niche. They're surely aware of that. If the Wacraft thing was such a problem, nobody would make it Wacraft. They would go: listen, can't we ditch this Warcraft thing and just make it a random fantasy movie?

It's not like Activision Blizzard funded the movie back to back so they HAD to make it Warcraft. They're doing it because someone out there believes that the franchise has a marketing value. Obviously not everyone believes it (remember the "Warcraft is a 'problem movie' thread). But that's another story.

Besides, it doesn't have to mean much that there's people out there that look down on the game. I'm pretty sure there are even more who don't have any opinion at all. They just have to get interested in the movie. That can happen either because it's good (I don't expect it to be) or because the buzz expands from the core audience (Warcraft fans) onto the broader mainstream. It can happen. You think it's hardcore comic fans that made all these superhero movies like the Avengers such a crazy success? The majority of these people who ran into the cinemas haven't bought a comic book in their life and never gave a damn about Iron Man or Captain America. I bet it you asked them before the movies were a thing, half of them would have said that comic books are manchildren bullshit.

You make a good point about the comics (though personally I don't ever want to see another superhero movie ever again, but your commercial logic is compelling).

I don't think it is necessarily an either/or thing. You can target the same film different ways successfully. The star wars prequels did this quite cleverly. They made ads about Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala for the teen girl audience watching Sabrina the teenage witch on Nickleodeon. They made ads about the lightsaber duels for teen boys. They made jar-jar binks ads for pre-teens etc etc.
Those films had a generally negative critical reception but they cleaned up commercially. I'm surprised that promotional model wasn't used for other films.

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To be fair, it was only in my head because of this Outland, which was not a bad movie too :P



I think we're going to have to have a good trailer to draw outside people in.

Yeah, a killer trailer will probably do that. Given the content I've seen, doesn't look like that will be the case though. Hopefully they are holding something back.

Not that the content I've seen looks bad exactly, but it wouldn't make think "I must see this" in the way other trailers have.

[MoanaLisa]

I would name it Outland

That's already been taken. Sean Connery; Jupiter; same basic story as High Noon.

Now amateur game designers will decide on how Hollywood works? OK. Y'all realize that at this point it's pretty much completely out of Blizzard's hands?

[LilSaihah]

I dunno. I think the "all publicity is good publicity" idea benefits Warcraft. Even if it's "hey I slightly recognize that name" it might make someone watch it instead of watching whatever shit Adam Sandler's flung at the editing board.

[Zstr]

Warcraft is franchise, and is big one, you can compare it lore and world to Tolkien's Lord of Rings/Hobbit or Lucas's Starwars, I would even say it's more! Which will really interested a lot of people, those who are outside of gaming industry. Franchise have lots of stories told and to be told and it's still evolve and growing. Blizzard's scenarist are the best, and Chris Metzen is evidence this film won't fail + plus lots of franchise fans.
and this is your idea to be ashmed of title when it's speak of itself is just retarded.

[Deleted]

Warcraft is franchise, and is big one, you can compare it lore and world to Tolkien's Lord of Rings/Hobbit or Lucas's Starwars, I would even say it's more! Which will really interested a lot of people, those who are outside of gaming industry. Franchise have lots of stories to told and to tell and it's still evolve and growing. Blizzard's scenarist are the best, and Chris Metzen is evidence it film won't fail plus franchise fans.
and this is your idea to be ashmed of title when it's speak of itself is just retarded.

Well, I obviously love the warcraft universe. My idea is more about challenging people's preconceptions than "being ashamed". I want 50 million people playing wow, and I don't think the current approach will work. Hope I'm wrong.

But I think you are in denial if you think it has a good reputation outside the community. Even when compared to Star Wars or Tolkien it doesn't have a good rep.

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I dunno. I think the "all publicity is good publicity" idea benefits Warcraft. Even if it's "hey I slightly recognize that name" it might make someone watch it instead of watching whatever shit Adam Sandler's flung at the editing board.

Hmmm...Standards are being set pretty damn low then

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That's already been taken. Sean Connery; Jupiter; same basic story as High Noon.

Now amateur game designers will decide on how Hollywood works? OK. Y'all realize that at this point it's pretty much completely out of Blizzard's hands?

Nah that's not true. If it was out of their hands then some turkey would have been made in 2004 and bombed. They obviously really want this to work and spent a lot of time finding the right director and approach.

[LilSaihah]

Hmmm...Standards are being set pretty damn low then

Hey, Adam Sandler sets them and he's put out some real turds lately.

It really depends on what other movies launch at the same time. I'm not very familiar with how movie seasons work but if it launches in a timeblock with no real competition then people will just go "hey a movie with a name i recognize, let's watch that".

[Shampro]

I'm very interested to see how a movie about war in a fantasy setting would in any shape or form condone ''bad reputation''. Like what the hell is this? It's orcs, humans and magic in a fantasy setting, this ''bad reputation outside the community'' seems far fetched to me. Like, you're more embarrased of the universe than the creators themselves. Wat.

[hulkgor]

Why would they steer away from the name, being as popular as it is?

The name will bring people to the movies, even if they never heard of the movie before... and that's the whole point. Having a successful movie (good, hopefully), so that they can consider expanding the universe on movies.

If they would opt for an obscure name that wow players know about (someone said Outland, which is a good name nonetheless), a lot of people would probably not recognize it and feel the urge to watch.

Also, the dude expecting the movie to inflate wow players? WTF? I want the movie to be good because it's a fucking Warcraft movie. I want to like it, and i want my friends to like it, for what it is. None of us has any urge in playing wow, and the movie won't change that. What are you expecting? People to run into the stagnant, in decline game because the movie was good? Get a grip.

And more, "bad reputation"? lol. Comic book movies had a 'bad reputation' in the past decades, with shitty movies and embarassment for being nerd culture. Guess what? Not anymore! Nerd culture is where it's at, with massive profits to be made... steering away from that would be absurd. "Embarassed" lol.

You're like suggesting the new Star Wars movies to be named "Droids", or Lord of the Rings to have been named "Gondor"... ok.

Even when compared to Star Wars or Tolkien it doesn't have a good rep.

Why the EFFE would it have a better, or even similar reputation than Star Wars or Tolkien? Are you that much of a fanboy that you think the Warcraft franchise is even CLOSE to be comparable to Star Wars of Lord of the Rings? What? Holy hell. Everyone on the fucking world knows who Darth Vader or Gandalf are, not fucking Thrall or Varyann. Really dude, really.

[MoanaLisa]

Nah that's not true. If it was out of their hands then some turkey would have been made in 2004 and bombed. They obviously really want this to work and spent a lot of time finding the right director and approach.

The words "at this point" were there for a reason. The film is done. The date is set. Changing the title now with all of the PR that's already been done or is prepared is probably the dumbest thing imaginable. Especially changing it to a title that has already been used that has nothing at all to do with the film we're discussing.

It's a done deal.

[Zarc]

That seems kind of dumb. Don't get into marketing dude.

The only reason this movie has the kind of budget that it has is because it's a well-known and established franchise that in itself generates a lot of interest, rather than being the latest Spielberg directed movie or the latest movie starring Will Smith. So wanting to be rid of that makes no sense what so ever. Also Blizzard themselves wouldn't want to do a movie like this if it wasn't going to add to the interest for their #1 franchise, and so they wouldn't want to make the movie under another name.

[Gorgodeus]

It is real simple. If the movie is awesome, word of mouth will drive people to see it. If the movie sucks, it will tank. It has nothing to do with the name.