Warcraft 2 movie in the works!?

[Adamas102]

For the audience who isn't familiar with the Warcraft universe, dropping the Arthas story on them would do nothing but confuse them.
That's why Blizzard chose to go with the Azeroth invasion for the first movie in order to teach the audience how everything began.

The movie shouldn't target just Warcraft fans, who are obviously aware what everything is about, it's supposed to be a story that even the uninitiated can get into.

I'd say that this is one of the big reasons why the first movie didn't work. The scope was too large, it was like a child taking all their action figures out and smashing them together. Almost a dozen "important" characters and multiple locations that were not fleshed out so there was no sense of scale or continuity. At its core it wanted to be a war movie, but since so much was just thrown at the audience at once it was never really clear what the stakes were.

The Arthas story could be a lot more simple. Lets say you just want to do from the discovery of the plague up to when Arthas kills Mal'Ganis. You have 6 main characters (could drop Jaina from that part of the story but then it's just a sausage fest) and only a few distinct locations none of which require all that much backstory for the action set pieces that take place there. The plot follows a pretty simple formula (revenge corrupts) that revolves around a single character and all the others serve to propel that one character's arc. No need for convoluted side plots and romances.

[The Butt Witch]

I'd say that this is one of the big reasons why the first movie didn't work. The scope was too large, it was like a child taking all their action figures out and smashing them together. Almost a dozen "important" characters and multiple locations that were not fleshed out so there was no sense of scale or continuity. At its core it wanted to be a war movie, but since so much was just thrown at the audience at once it was never really clear what the stakes were.

The Arthas story could be a lot more simple. Lets say you just want to do from the discovery of the plague up to when Arthas kills Mal'Ganis. You have 6 main characters (could drop Jaina from that part of the story but then it's just a sausage fest) and only a few distinct locations none of which require all that much backstory for the action set pieces that take place there. The plot follows a pretty simple formula (revenge corrupts) that revolves around a single character and all the others serve to propel that one character's arc. No need for convoluted side plots and romances.

Wouldn't work.

The entire story begins with Ner'zhul, which means you HAVE to mention the Orcish invasion of Azeroth and everything else involved with it, which is way too much to shove into some short exposition. Even if you leave out Teron Gorefiend, that's still a lot of history for a movie that isn't about the Invasion of Azeroth.

And then the audience would be like "Who?", "What?", "When?", and you got another failed movie on your hands.

[Adamas102]

Wouldn't work.

The entire story begins with Ner'zhul, which means you HAVE to mention the Orcish invasion of Azeroth and everything else involved with it, which is way too much to shove into some short exposition. Even if you leave out Teron Gorefiend, that's still a lot of history for a movie that isn't about the Invasion of Azeroth.

And then the audience would be like "Who?", "What?", "When?", and you got another failed movie on your hands.

You don't have to mention Ner'zhul at all. It's inconsequential to telling the story of Arthas from WC3. The audience follows the character of Arthas, and as far as he's concerned the plague is the work of Kel'Thuzad, until Arthas kills him then finds out about Mal'Ganis. Frostmourne is simply a powerful artifact that he learns about while chasing Mal'ganis to Northrend. Its backstory doesn't matter, just the reveal that it's an evil sword. You don't need to go into the history of the orcs, or the Silver Hand, or the Burning Legion, or the Scourge. The point is that the story is told to where the audience only knows as much as Arthas does, and learns the new details through his journey.

If the movie does well, then you can add more movies to expand the lore. For a contemporary example, consider how many MCU movies included Infinity Stones before their history and purpose was fully revealed. You don't need to know what the tesseract is when you watch the first Captain America movie. All you need to know is that it's powerful and the Nazis want it.

[Jibjub]

To be fair Tolkien was also a pretty big nerd whatever way you twist it, and that worked out fine.
Now i'm not saying that there's a chance that they're gonna rival the LotR movies, but it's not the nerd or overcomplicated part that did it in (though i do agree that a lot should, as always, be cut from a movie, as happened with the LotR movies too after all).

And if ya simplify too much you're just gonna get some soulless shit that might raise the question of "Why did you bother doing this?", better a failure due to overreach than a forgettable minor succes. The balance needs to be right.

Don't get me wrong. I love nerd shit! But video game writers have WAY WAY lower standards and less rigorous gatekeepers than most other mediums. It's basically, "If it's cool, make it work!" You don't have to worry about pacing and plot and consistency. And it's super, duper easy to retcon a game (which is done freely and liberally) than it is to retcon books and movies.

[loras]

Don't get me wrong. I love nerd shit! But video game writers have WAY WAY lower standards and less rigorous gatekeepers than most other mediums. It's basically, "If it's cool, make it work!" You don't have to worry about pacing and plot and consistency. And it's super, duper easy to retcon a game (which is done freely and liberally) than it is to retcon books and movies.

Meh, i reluctantly have to give you that one.
Wish it weren't true, and i'd argue that the way they take liberties does videogaming no favors at all, but that doesn't change what it is.

[ZazuuPriest]

You don't have to mention Ner'zhul at all. It's inconsequential to telling the story of Arthas from WC3. The audience follows the character of Arthas, and as far as he's concerned the plague is the work of Kel'Thuzad, until Arthas kills him then finds out about Mal'Ganis. Frostmourne is simply a powerful artifact that he learns about while chasing Mal'ganis to Northrend. Its backstory doesn't matter, just the reveal that it's an evil sword. You don't need to go into the history of the orcs, or the Silver Hand, or the Burning Legion, or the Scourge. The point is that the story is told to where the audience only knows as much as Arthas does, and learns the new details through his journey.

If the movie does well, then you can add more movies to expand the lore. For a contemporary example, consider how many MCU movies included Infinity Stones before their history and purpose was fully revealed. You don't need to know what the tesseract is when you watch the first Captain America movie. All you need to know is that it's powerful and the Nazis want it.

I think the main issue here will be even with a movie just about arthas to do it any justice it will need to be way too long. There is just too much there it needs to be a series. Arhtas' stroy starts when he is 9 after all and I think those interactions with Muradin and Varian are important. Theres the whole love triangle thing with Jaina and Kael he even witnesses Thrall in durnhold as a young prince. Then of course you get into the third war and northrend. To even attempt to tell his story you would probably need at least 3 movies or 3-4 seasons of a series. I highly doubt activision blizzard is willing to put out that level of development

[MrFawlty]

You mean Jim Cummings. Lorewalker Cho is a must.

No way, Jack Black all the way for me.

[arkanon]

warcraft movie pathetique....please.dont do warcraft2.....better,bring more hero classes to the game,wake up blizzard!...

What the hell does a movie have to do with the game? Do you think the game devs are working on the movie?

[Adamas102]

I think the main issue here will be even with a movie just about arthas to do it any justice it will need to be way too long. There is just too much there it needs to be a series. Arhtas' stroy starts when he is 9 after all and I think those interactions with Muradin and Varian are important. Theres the whole love triangle thing with Jaina and Kael he even witnesses Thrall in durnhold as a young prince. Then of course you get into the third war and northrend. To even attempt to tell his story you would probably need at least 3 movies or 3-4 seasons of a series. I highly doubt activision blizzard is willing to put out that level of development

Yeah most of these stories are too sprawling to fit all the relevant lore into one movie. The reason I think Arthas could work is because there’s a very focused character arc to part of his story. You start with a few scenes to show him as a promising good guy, then you spend the rest of the movie focusing on his gradual fall. Like I said before, all the other characters from Uther to Muradin to Mal’Ganis all serve to move that arc along. We don’t need their backgrounds to make them relevant to that particular story.

Even still I don’t think you could fit every lore beat between Strahnbrad and killing Mal’Ganis into a 2.5 hour movie. There would have to be some cuts. Still, I think it would be far more accessible to general audiences than more war movies where you try to show both sides (while not really fleshing out either) along with a slew of additional side stories.

Tbh we don’t need Arthas’ full story. After killing Mal’Ganis he just becomes a willful puppet and static villain for other characters to develop around. While it would be cool as fans to watch a lore dump like that, it would not be appealing to most people.

[Syegfryed]

You don't have to mention Ner'zhul at all.

how you can't? is like the first star wars movie without darth vade or palpatine, or LotR and Sauron

It's inconsequential to telling the story of Arthas from WC3. The audience follows the character of Arthas, and as far as he's concerned the plague is the work of Kel'Thuzad, until Arthas kills him then finds out about Mal'Ganis. Frostmourne is simply a powerful artifact that he learns about while chasing Mal'ganis to Northrend.

And everything that is happening just go under the rug? everything ignored because we are following our precious boy Arthas? how can they do a proper "descent into madness" if they do not show his deep hatred for orcs and why the orcs are hated by then? the burning Legion is the main point of the WC3 story, not him, the scourge only exist for the Legion to invade, people would not care about him, about his kingdom because they would not have time or reason to symphatize

Its backstory doesn't matter, just the reveal that it's an evil sword. You don't need to go into the history of the orcs, or the Silver Hand, or the Burning Legion, or the Scourge. The point is that the story is told to where the audience only knows as much as Arthas does, and learns the new details through his journey.

you are basically telling the movie would need nothing else, no worldbuilding, nothing, just a guy getting pissed of a demon travelling to kill him and geting a magic sword but its cursed.

The audience don't know Arthas and don't know the Warcraft world, arthas knows orcs by example, He know the war, is a big thing in his backstory, things like that can't be simple ignored.

Arthas movie should be done after the universe is set, not before, because of the worldbuilding, not every random person know about the character Arthas, they know about the Lich king, but horde and alliance is well know, hell even Thrall have more popularity compared to - paladin Arthas -

[Sentynel]

If it does happen, I doubt it'll be the Arthas Story. You HAVE to sell it to China and all of that undeath/Necromancy/Skellington bones won't fly.

And again, why should the rest of the world pander to the communists?

Do Arthas story and fuck China if they don't like it.

[breadisfunny]

And again, why should the rest of the world pander to the communists?

Do Arthas story and fuck China if they don't like it.

it has almost nothing to do with communists. in asian culture portraying the dead how they are portrayed in the west is forbidden/extremely taboo among their culture and considered extremely disrespectful. hence why those type of movies usually tank in the asian markets. ever notice how almost EVERY SINGLE ASIAN HORROR MOVIE involves spirits ghosts or some other supernatural force that DOESN'T show body parts/organs?

[blankfaced]

Grateful to hear. The first one wasn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be. I feel like Chris Pratt only has one character though, Andy, and Star Lord is just Andy in space with meaner co-workers. So maybe he'll be playing a Gnome? The cheap laughs character.

But if they could find some way to get this gentleman in there, shirtless preferred. (Billy Magnussen)

[HateTrain]

And again, why should the rest of the world pander to the communists?

Do Arthas story and fuck China if they don't like it.

It has fuck all to do with communists.


Market Release Date Opening Gross
China Jun 8, 2016 $65,141,191 $225,547,500


Rollout
Domestic (10.8%) $47,365,290
International (89.2%) $391,683,624
Worldwide $439,048,914

Because over HALF of the movies $439,000,000.00 box office was earned in China. That is why you either make it with the Chinese market in mind or you don't spend blockbuster money on your movie.

[Florena]

I don't think they should make another movie. I think a tv show is far better suited for a game like WoW.

I agree with this. A series would be a better way to handle it than movies, give things more room to breathe. Especially if they ever get into WC 3 territory.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I think the main issue here will be even with a movie just about arthas to do it any justice it will need to be way too long. There is just too much there it needs to be a series. Arhtas' stroy starts when he is 9 after all and I think those interactions with Muradin and Varian are important. Theres the whole love triangle thing with Jaina and Kael he even witnesses Thrall in durnhold as a young prince. Then of course you get into the third war and northrend. To even attempt to tell his story you would probably need at least 3 movies or 3-4 seasons of a series. I highly doubt activision blizzard is willing to put out that level of development

None of that was part of the story when Arthas first became popular when Warcraft 3 released.

[Eapoe]

The main issue with the Warcraft movie is that it tried to appeal to so many people that it appealed to only a few. Blizzard stated they tried making a movie to appeal to fans, as well as those who had no idea what the story/games are about.
In doing that, it left gamers feeling upset because of how the story was changed and condensed, while casual moviegoers had no idea what most references (Kadgar leveling up) or characters are.

[Adamas102]

how you can't? is like the first star wars movie without darth vade or palpatine, or LotR and Sauron

Bad comparisons because Warcraft doesn't get to go into this assuming they will get a trilogy of movies. You get one movie and you can't cram it with every single relevant lore character because that kind of bloated shit is what turns off general audiences. Hell, even Dune with it's stellar director, star studded cast, and established source material still doesn't have its sequel greenlit, and that would just be to round out a single book.

Also, Mal'Ganis would be the Vader of the movie. Having a 10 second cameo of someone like Palpatine is pointless if you can't expect to pay it off over the sequels. Honestly, A New Hope would still work just fine without a cameo from the Emperor.

As for LotR, it was pivotal to know from the get go who created the ring and why. Arthas doesn't know shit about Frostmourne until it's floating in front of him and even then all he and Muradin learn is that it's a cursed rune weapon. Again, I'll reference the first Captain America movie where you don't need to be told that there's an infinity stone in the tesseract and you CERTAINLY don't need to be told the whole history of said stones. All you need to know at that point is that it's a powerful artifact.

And everything that is happening just go under the rug? everything ignored because we are following our precious boy Arthas? how can they do a proper "descent into madness" if they do not show his deep hatred for orcs and why the orcs are hated by then? the burning Legion is the main point of the WC3 story, not him, the scourge only exist for the Legion to invade, people would not care about him, about his kingdom because they would not have time or reason to symphatize

No, you don't need ANY of that. The point of doing an Arthas story isn't because he's some precious character, or the most popular, or better than all the others. It's because his story can be distilled down to a relatable character arc. It's not the story of WC3 as a whole, it's just a small portion of one character's story. Keep. It. Simple.

you are basically telling the movie would need nothing else, no worldbuilding, nothing, just a guy getting pissed of a demon travelling to kill him and geting a magic sword but its cursed.

The audience don't know Arthas and don't know the Warcraft world, arthas knows orcs by example, He know the war, is a big thing in his backstory, things like that can't be simple ignored.

Arthas movie should be done after the universe is set, not before, because of the worldbuilding, not every random person know about the character Arthas, they know about the Lich king, but horde and alliance is well know, hell even Thrall have more popularity compared to - paladin Arthas -

Again, stop assuming you get an "after the universe is set". Yes, all you need is a guy pissed about zombies and his quest to fight evil corrupts him instead. Then maybe you get an after credit scene to show it's all part of some bigger plan. Arthas doesn't know about the Legion's plans. He doesn't know about the Lich King or Ner'zhul's history. None of that stuff needs to be explained to tell the story of Arthas at this point.

[Syegfryed]

Bad comparisons because Warcraft doesn't get to go into this assuming they will get a trilogy of movies. You get one movie and you can't cram it with every single relevant lore character because that kind of bloated shit is what turns off general audiences. Hell, even Dune with it's stellar director, star studded cast, and established source material still doesn't have its sequel greenlit, and that would just be to round out a single book.

you can't make a movie about a character of a big universe without having the unvierse set, its common sense, see how the first movie bomb because they tried too much in a single movie without anything rly set, the Arthas story would be way wose ebcause its entire dependant of other events.

Also, Mal'Ganis would be the Vader of the movie. Having a 10 second cameo of someone like Palpatine is pointless if you can't expect to pay it off over the sequels. Honestly, A New Hope would still work just fine without a cameo from the Emperor.

Mal'ganis is a demon working for the Legion, comanding the efforts to make the scourge, how the hell you will tll this story without explaising the LEgion and the scorge too? do you think the audance will get just fine?

Palpatine had Vader to be the antagonist of the first movie and they mentioned the emperor a lot, thats worldbuilding that it would not have in a single movie about Arthas.

As for LotR, it was pivotal to know from the get go who created the ring and why.

Because worldbuilding, you have to give context of why things are happening, you can't do the monologue for Arthas because is too much shit happening to be explained well in a few minutes.

Arthas doesn't know shit about Frostmourne until it's floating in front of him and even then all he and Muradin learn is that it's a cursed rune weapon. Again, I'll reference the first Captain America movie where you don't need to be told that there's an infinity stone in the tesseract and you CERTAINLY don't need to be told the whole history of said stones. All you need to know at that point is that it's a powerful artifact.

you don't because because the story don't need to, but the marvel movie universe was already set, you don't need to explain the frostmourne but you will have to explain other shit for the story to make sense and be cohesive, if not, people will not get a warcraft story, will be story of a guy with a cursed sword, it will be like those shit book adaptations.

No, you don't need ANY of that. The point of doing an Arthas story isn't because he's some precious character, or the most popular, or better than all the others. It's because his story can be distilled down to a relatable character arc. It's not the story of WC3 as a whole, it's just a small portion of one character's story. Keep. It. Simple.

it literally can't, a lot of shit that happens with Arthas is reflex of something else, mind you, Arthas story is just a minor story of the entirity of Wc3 that is everything intertwined, the scourge and Legion and the horde make fundamental difference in his story and you can't tell eveyrhting in single monologue

if you don't build we will get a story og a guy perscuing a demon,b ecause he is making zombies and get a cursed sword to kill him.

plus, when the move is going to end? when he get frostmourne? cause that would be pointless, when he kill his father? when he become LK?

Again, stop assuming you get an "after the universe is set". Yes, all you need is a guy pissed about zombies and his quest to fight evil corrupts him instead.

great warcraft movie am i right, angry guy and cursed sword.

Then maybe you get an after credit scene to show it's all part of some bigger plan. Arthas doesn't know about the Legion's plans. He doesn't know about the Lich King or Ner'zhul's history. None of that stuff needs to be explained to tell the story of Arthas at this point.

it would be bad, just like the first one., general public will find nonsense just like the first one who tried to just show some scenes and assume everything is explained with that.

Arthas story is spin-off material, not main movie

[Adamas102]

you can't make a movie about a character of a big universe without having the unvierse set

Dude, I fucking understand that it's all connected, but you don't need to dwell on the connections to tell a story. The fastest way to turn the general audience off from watching your movie is to say "you can't understand or enjoy it unless you watch/read all this other shit first". You keep bringing up Star Wars as an example of worldbuilding, while ignoring the fact that the entire first trilogy (the best one) barely covered the history of the Empire and the Rebellion, the Sith, the Jedi, Palpatine's background, Vader's background, or the universe as a whole. There isn't a lot of exposition at all because the primary story is that of Luke Skywalker, and it really doesn't matter to him how the war was started. He eventually learns a little more about the Jedi and about Vader, but it's the bare minimum needed to continue his character's progression. The original trilogy worked perfectly fine without all the details added by the books and movies that came after.

If you show your protagonist to be relatable and a good person then you don't need to go into the history of his home to understand why he wants to protect it. You don't need to cover the Legion to show that a demon orchestrating an undead invasion is a bad guy. You don't need to show that it's part of some bigger plan for the audience to understand why the protagonist wants to stop it.

The Human campaign for WC3 can be understood and followed without playing ANY of the other parts of the game. You don't need to know why the orcs are there to understand that the humans see them as a threat. You don't need to understand the forces behind the plague to understand why it's a threat. You don't need to know Arthas' full backstory to understand why he fights. You keep deriding it as "just some guy angry about zombies" as if that's a bad thing. It's not. The fact that you can boil the story down so succinctly is a GOOD thing when you want to make a movie. What makes it Warcraft is that it follows a Warcraft character through their story as it's presented in the lore.

You're right that one of the reasons why the first movie bombed was due to general audiences feeling confused, but that wasn't because they hadn't watched a dozen movies before hand that explained all the orc clans and their history on Draenor as well as the intricacies of the human kingdoms and the full history of Azeroth and the existence of the Legion, etc etc. The reason it was confusing is because it was so unfocused. It wasn't that fact that we didn't know the characters' history, it was the fact that there were so many damn characters to begin with.