Isn't the WoW movie about 5 years too late?

[SoulSoBreezy]

No.
Regardless of how the MMO is doing, it created a large, large audience that's familiar with the franchise.
LoL is a more popular game but I don't see a movie coming out of that.

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It's still going to be lumped into the same category. Yes, it is still a wow movie, because it's basically a story from a developer from blizzard who just so happens to work on wow.

Not really seeing how wow compares to LOTR, but at least it was good for a laugh.

Not really a comparison between the two, but they were answering the "5 years too late" question.

That being said, I don't think it's going to bomb (short term at least), but it's not going to break the box office by any means. I think the biggest thing they have going for them is the selected cast members, give it a year and nobody will be talking about the movie. Unless they decide to go the land before time route and milk it, at which point only the die-hard fans will nerd out on it.

If a thing has an audience, there's no shame in milking them.

One final thing before I'm out:

I LOL'd at the money-grab attempt. Blizzard is basically considering bribing people with in-game items to go see the movie.

You call it money grab; I call it marketing. Didn't Star Wars TFA spend more money on marketing than the movie itself?

[Deleted]

Star wars had a bigger plan then just their film. So merchandising was the big end game, addvitize film > people love movie > steal under pants via underpants gnomes > Fans buys toys, games, book's and what-not's

While WoW all ready is a game over multiply genres (rts, mmo and a card game) and their film is just their way to try to drag more people into their pockets

[quras]

Had this movie come out when WoW was at it's peak, both in terms of popularity and public interest, I get the feeling it would have been a much bigger deal.

As such, I just don't see the movie doing anything, it will probably not bomb, but likely not do anything of note at the box office anyway, probably just make it's money back.

Seems like they missed their window.

I don't know about 5 year too late but I do think they missed a better window of opportunity for this movie.

[Kokolums]

Development started early 2006 and was in development hell for quite a while. The convenience and technology of CGI was one big factor and they had disagreements during preproduction. Remember the infamous Uwe Boll wanting to direct it a long time ago and blizzard's response?

Every time I hear his name I think of Manute Bol and Uwe Blab, two former NBA basketball players.

[Tijuana]

Had this movie come out when WoW was at it's peak, both in terms of popularity and public interest, I get the feeling it would have been a much bigger deal.

As such, I just don't see the movie doing anything, it will probably not bomb, but likely not do anything of note at the box office anyway, probably just make it's money back.

Seems like they missed their window.

It wasn't really possible to do this movie until recently, without it being standard animation.

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It's still going to be lumped into the same category. Yes, it is still a wow movie, because it's basically a story from a developer from blizzard who just so happens to work on wow.

Not really seeing how wow compares to LOTR, but at least it was good for a laugh.

That being said, I don't think it's going to bomb (short term at least), but it's not going to break the box office by any means. I think the biggest thing they have going for them is the selected cast members, give it a year and nobody will be talking about the movie. Unless they decide to go the land before time route and milk it, at which point only the die-hard fans will nerd out on it.

One final thing before I'm out:

I LOL'd at the money-grab attempt. Blizzard is basically considering bribing people with in-game items to go see the movie.

I LOL every time someone says "money-grab", as if doing business is some sort of crime.

[Thimagryn]

It's still going to be lumped into the same category. Yes, it is still a wow movie, because it's basically a story from a developer from blizzard who just so happens to work on wow.

It's a Warcraft movie. World of Warcraft is a sub branding. You could say the Warcraft movie and WoW are both part of the 'Warcraft' brand, but they aren't related to each other. Similar with Final Fantasy, you wouldn't say FF13 is the same as FF14 just because they're developed by the same company. 'Final Fantasy' is a brand, and FF13, FF14 etc are sub brandings.

And no, the movie isn't too late unless you expected it in the early 90's after the first game was released.

[Deleted]

I really don't think that the timing of the movie in relation to WoW's popularity will have much, if any effect on it's success. It's easy to forget from here on this WoW centric forum, but WoW has never been that big of a franchise. It's always been a niche, nerdy game and honestly it had quite a lot of bad press in the public eye during its height. All those stories about children starving because their parents where addicted and stuff. Now it's a clean slate, still with a healthy base fandom.

[Soulwind]

I really don't think that the timing of the movie in relation to WoW's popularity will have much, if any effect on it's success. It's easy to forget from here on this WoW centric forum, but WoW has never been that big of a franchise. It's always been a niche, nerdy game and honestly it had quite a lot of bad press in the public eye during its height. All those stories about children starving because their parents where addicted and stuff. Now it's a clean slate, still with a healthy base fandom.

Besides, Warcraft is as related to WoW as it is to Hearthstone. I don't see anybody calling it "the Hearthstone movie".

[angelsdeath]

I missed where they announced a 2011 release date. Pretty sure it's right on time.

[shise]

It comes right on time actually, just when they need to get people back into the game. Warcraft and Legion coming out proly a couple of months or 3 after will raise numbers back to outstanding numbers. But then again, they'll have to think of something else after that.

[jimmyjingle]

Yeah, it's too late. It should have been out around the time Blizzard started making their design decisions primarily for investors rather than players. It's just too little, too late, for me to be hyped about it. That said, I'm sure that I'll pay to see it, and everyone knows it will be a relative success at the box office and as advertisement to pull new players in.

[Deleted]

Umm no the release date is this year...

[Nanaboostme]

Umm no the release date is this year...

lol i dont think thats the topic of discussion taking place... OP's opinion is that it should've been produced and released half a decade ago when OP believed it was at its 'prime'

[Fortydragon]

I really don't think that the timing of the movie in relation to WoW's popularity will have much, if any effect on it's success. It's easy to forget from here on this WoW centric forum, but WoW has never been that big of a franchise. It's always been a niche, nerdy game and honestly it had quite a lot of bad press in the public eye during its height. All those stories about children starving because their parents where addicted and stuff. Now it's a clean slate, still with a healthy base fandom.

This is too true! 5 years ago I think most people would have avoided a "Word of Warcraft" movie, I have that opinion because I grew up hearing and thinking all those bad things about this franchise.

But now with things like hearthstone and people being more open minded about Warcraft and videogames in general, I think its more likely to be successful now.

[BenBos]

Franchises do not die that easely.

Tintin, Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, all these Comic heroes...

We had all these ex players too and my feeling ... is that Warcraft could fill a gap between all these Super Hero movies and Star Wars too...

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Tldr: It will just depend if it is a GOOD movie or not... and IF people can adapt to ... Orcs after Game of Thrones, which I ... doubt a bit.

[Bumbasta]

I'm quite sure that a lot of people who do not play WoW anymore are still interested in it's lore and the movie. At least all my friends are (who all quit years ago).

[FertsBlert]

I really don't think that the timing of the movie in relation to WoW's popularity will have much, if any effect on it's success. It's easy to forget from here on this WoW centric forum, but WoW has never been that big of a franchise. It's always been a niche, nerdy game and honestly it had quite a lot of bad press in the public eye during its height. All those stories about children starving because their parents where addicted and stuff. Now it's a clean slate, still with a healthy base fandom.

Never that big of a franchise hmmm? You know at it's peak the sub base was equal to half the population of my country right? (Australia) So a higher population in this tiny franchise than Greece, Cuba, Rwanda, Sweden, Portugal.... I think you get the idea.

At it's peak my father who was 60 and a hydraulic fitter with no interest at all in computer games was asking about WoW because a couple of the guys he worked with played. He wasn't the only completely non-gamer I had talk about WoW either.

[apples]

Never that big of a franchise hmmm? You know at it's peak the sub base was equal to half the population of my country right? (Australia) So a higher population in this tiny franchise than Greece, Cuba, Rwanda, Sweden, Portugal.... I think you get the idea.

At it's peak my father who was 60 and a hydraulic fitter with no interest at all in computer games was asking about WoW because a couple of the guys he worked with played. He wasn't the only completely non-gamer I had talk about WoW either.

arguing against wow being a niche market is pretty dumb, as its the stereotypical niche market of MMOs

niche has nothing to do with a markets size or penetrability by the way

just look at diapers

[Deleted]

While I do agree that it should've been out years ago... I also sort of disagree. It's Warcraft. Even though people stop playing, the addiction will always linger. People will still flock to movie theaters to see what's going on - Whether it be because it's laughably bad or if it's the new Tolkien saga in the making.

[Otimus]

I think people comparing this to LOTR (or a lot of other properties mentioned, actually.), in terms of adaption power, are absolutely delusional at the level of popularity they think Warcraft or Blizzard has, had, or ever will have, and are going to be in for a rude awakening. (Well, except for maybe in Asia)