I KNEW the movie would flop

[Mormolyce]

Exactly, there are no good video game movies. I doubt Assassins Creed will change that either.

I think Kanye has already managed to ruin that somehow.

Yes, it's true, and no offense, but you are "disputing" from ignorance.

And you're asserting from ignorance. Neither of us know the studio's finances.

The US has always had the least amount of WoW players. When subs were around 7 million, the US only accounted for around 1 million of that.

I'd say it's the opposite. The movie was proportionally successful related to sub numbers. It did great in China (area with high subs) and did terribly in the US (area with low subs).

Where are you getting these numbers? Blizzard stopped splitting their sub numbers in 2010, at which point the West/East split was fairly close, 6/5 million ish respectively.

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png

- - - Updated - - -

According to your article it has made 400M. Considering it cost 160M to make, Blizzard is most likely barely breaking even with the movie - as I recall Angry Birds need to break 400M€ just to break even because of all the expenses and making that cost only 70M€ (but the marketing budget for that was huge).

Theaters take a cut. Marketing isn't cheap. There's a lot of hands between the theater and Blizzard themselves.

Again, that all depends on the marketing budget, which we don't know.

[Deleted]

Again, that all depends on the marketing budget, which we don't know.

Even if the marketing budget was 0, it would barely break even (AB budget was 70M€ movie + 100M€ marketing)

[Mormolyce]

Friday US box office was down to 1/3 of the previous friday, just $636K (est.) The number of screens is also now declining (from 3,406 to 1,952) I guess they had a contract for the original number for two weeks.

At this rate it will be a struggle to reach $50M in the US.

If Kotick views the Warcraft IP as being sufficiently compromised he may decide to sell it entirely. Activision-Blizzard does have a large debt it needs to pay down.

I think the US BO numbers are moot at this point. What debt are you referring to?

- - - Updated - - -

Even if the marketing budget was 0, it would barely break even (AB budget was 70M€ movie + 100M€ marketing)

According to wikipedia AB spent US$300 million on marketing, which it notes is the biggest ever for an animated Sony movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angry_Birds_Movie

[Leafcast]

According to your article it has made 400M. Considering it cost 160M to make, Blizzard is most likely barely breaking even with the movie - as I recall Angry Birds need to break 400M€ just to break even because of all the expenses and making that cost only 70M€ (but the marketing budget for that was huge).

Theaters take a cut. Marketing isn't cheap. There's a lot of hands between the theater and Blizzard themselves.

You need to consider digital sales, streaming rights and DVD/physical sales in addition to box office earnings. Blizzard/Legendary will make a decent profit when everything is said and done, which is quite incredible considering how Americans ate up the hate speech the critics fed them.

[Abillioncats]

I thought the movie was great.

[Deleted]

According to wikipedia AB spent US$300 million on marketing, which it notes is the biggest ever for an animated Sony movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angry_Birds_Movie

Same page states:"In addition, Rovio and Sony Entertainment will spend roughly €100 million for the marketing and distribution of the film.[19]"

Anyway, even if WoW made 400M€ it's unlikely there would be a sequel solely based on the movie revenue seeing as PoP got around 330M€ for 150-200M€ investment and there hasn't been a sequel for that.

[Shudder]

China has turned Warcraft into the highest-grossing video game film ever! Despite a precipitous fall in its second weekend performance at the US box office, Warcraft has now become the most successful video game film ever.

WARCRAFT'S CHINESE SUCCESS MEANS WE CAN DEFINITELY EXPECT A SEQUEL

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/21/11...deo-game-movie

Like I said before, being the number one video game movie means nothing. Prince of Persia was the number 1 before that and it didn't get a sequel.

[Mormolyce]

Same page states:"In addition, Rovio and Sony Entertainment will spend roughly €100 million for the marketing and distribution of the film.[19]"

Anyway, even if WoW made 400M€ it's unlikely there would be a sequel solely based on the movie revenue seeing as PoP got around 330M€ for 150-200M€ investment and there hasn't been a sequel for that.

The Rovio-Sony money appears to be in addition to the $300m?

We'll have to wait and see if it gets a sequel.

By your logic we also have to speculate on the marketing budget of Prince of Persia. Who knows? I have to say, the brand value of Warcraft is a hell of a lot higher. Much as I adore the original PoP games.

- - - Updated - - -

Like I said before, being the number one video game movie means nothing. Prince of Persia was the number 1 before that and it didn't get a sequel.

A lot of factors influence whether a movie gets a sequel or not.

[Volardelis]

Like I said before, being the number one video game movie means nothing. Prince of Persia was the number 1 before that and it didn't get a sequel.

PoP probably isn't as big as Warcraft is.

[MrSerious]

i wonder how much pandering there will be to appeal to the chinese markets for the sequel?

The introduction of Pandaria just like how they did it in-game. Then watch the critics and non wow players ridicule it for stealing ideas from kung fu panda.

/edit... just noticed the italics in your post... I see you're already on the right track.

[Volardelis]

The introduction of Pandaria just like how they did it in-game. Then watch the critics and non wow players ridicule it for stealing ideas from kung fu panda.

/edit... just noticed the italics in your post... I see you're already on the right track.

Pandaria is first mentioned in WC3 when you first meet Chen, although in MoP Chen had his place of origin retconned to the wandering isle

[Ferrair]

I can see why they released it overseas instead of the US first, everyone looks to movie reviews from US sites more often and if it bombed there it would affect sales in other regions.

That said, the movie was alright, but it was rushed as hell, it followed the Batman style of cutting to different scenes very very quickly and each character doesn't get much backstory except for Durotan? Even then it felt rushed, i thought Lothar's acting was ok but the King's scenes just felt so awkward.

Perhaps if they released a director's cut with more backstory it will be better. Lots of characters like Medivh, Gul'dan and a few others just didn't give you that "oh he's the bad guy" or "wow i felt betrayed by medivh" kind of feel.

If you already know the lore, the movie will fit right in, the quick cutting to different scenes won't really bother you but if you don't know the lore, it's just weird. It didn't feel like I wasted my money though, it just wasn't that good.

[Osmeric]

I think the US BO numbers are moot at this point. What debt are you referring to?

When Activision-Blizzard bought out Vivendi's share they went into debt to do it. Last I checked the debt was in excess of $4B, although it may be slightly smaller now.

[In Ogres We Trust]

When Activision-Blizzard bought out Vivendi's share they went into debt to do it. Last I checked the debt was in excess of $4B, although it may be slightly smaller now.

ATVI didn't buy out anything; Vivendi spun them off while siphoning/raiding their own assets from the company.

- - - Updated - - -

"We estimate the present value of the IP is $X. Tencent offered us $Y for it. Y > X. Any questions?"



Blizzard doesn't get to say no.



CEOs can and do make decisions like this all the time.



He can fire Morhaime at any time, at his whim, without needing to get approval of the board. There used to be language in the Activision-Blizzard corporate bylaws that would have required such approval, but it was removed when the bylaws were amended in February.

a) Tencent already owns a percentage of the company; the move would have to be justified to shareholders; and Morhaime would never allow it.
b) Blizzard does get a say in the matter since it's Blizzard's IP, and once again, such a move could force the major movers at Blizzard to split the company.
c) Yes, I never contested nor raised that point.
d) Morhaime and Co. are major shareholders within the company (ATVI), i.e. you don't fire a billionaire with significant assets and ties to the board without creating a substantial fallout.

[Osmeric]

ATVI didn't buy out anything; Vivendi spun them off while siphoning/raiding their own assets from the company.

"Raiding assets from the company" is not something that could be done, as it would have violated the rights of the other shareholders. It would have been illegal.

What happened was ATVI bought back Vivendi's shares at a below market price. The money to do this had to come from somewhere; ATVI's cash on hand was inadequate. ATVI went into debt to do it.

Vivendi wanted cash, so the alternative would have been for Vivendi to force ATVI to go even more into debt, then push that money to all the shareholders (not just Vivendi) in a special one-time dividend. Be glad that didn't happen.

- - - Updated - - -

a) Tencent already owns a percentage of the company; the move would have to be justified to shareholders; and Morhaime would never allow it.

I repeat: Morhaime doesn't get a veto in this.

b) Blizzard does get a say in the matter since it's Blizzard's IP, and once again, such a move could force the major movers at Blizzard to split the company.

Every damn thing owned by Blizzard is actually owned by Activision-Blizzard, including all the IP. Blizzard's relationship to ATVI is like Oldsmobile's relationship to GM -- it's a brand and a box on the org chart.

d) Morhaime and Co. are major shareholders within the company (ATVI), i.e. you don't fire a billionaire with significant assets and ties to the board without creating a substantial fallout.

As of June 17, Morhaime owns 370,065 shares in ATVI. There are 738.23M shares outstanding. Morhaime's share is about 0.05%.

http://zolmax.com/investing/michael-morhaime-sells-1150000-shares-of-activision-blizzard-inc-atvi-stock/702778.html

Kotick is one of the two leads of ASAC II LP, which owns 180.14M shares in ATVI (24.3% of the stock).

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/activision-blizzard-inc-atvi-ceo-robert-kotick-reports-24-38-stake-457777/

[Mormolyce]

When Activision-Blizzard bought out Vivendi's share they went into debt to do it. Last I checked the debt was in excess of $4B, although it may be slightly smaller now.

I don't know what the profit arrangement with Legendary is, but I can't see it making any kind of dent in that even if the movie broke every BO record on the planet.

The introduction of Pandaria just like how they did it in-game. Then watch the critics and non wow players ridicule it for stealing ideas from kung fu panda.

Are we ever going to see the end of these ignorant people who don't realise Pandaren predate Kung Fu Panda?

[Grenzstein]

It doesn't matter what haters think. It'll get a sequel. It has good user reviews and made loads of cash despite being a movie about a video game.

[Huehuecoyotl]

It doesn't matter what haters think. It'll get a sequel. It has good user reviews and made loads of cash despite being a movie about a video game.

Can somebody write a script that can just respond to these posts automatically? It just needs to say something about "not all income goes to the film-makers" and "marketing costs money" and "read any random page in this thread and you will see why this isn't correct". I swear by this stage people are making these posts because they think it's a meme.

[Soulwind]

Can somebody write a script that can just respond to these posts automatically? It just needs to say something about "not all income goes to the film-makers" and "marketing costs money" and "read any random page in this thread and you will see why this isn't correct". I swear by this stage people are making these posts because they think it's a meme.

Can somebody write a script that can just respond to these posts automatically? It just needs to say something about "money isn't the only factor for sequels to be greenlit" and "Hollywood lies about budget all the time to avoid paying taxes" and "Blizzard could support a sequel since they profit more from new and returning subscribers than they do from box office". I swear by this stage people are making these posts because they think it's a meme.

[Deleted]

It sucked. It sucked so damn hard. I actually felt a little embarrassed watching it.
I mentioned on the WoW Facebook feed that I thought it kinda sucked, and got this response from a diehard fan:


Good to see that some people are judging the movie on nothing but the plot.