Warcraft Movie Recap

[chaud]

Warcraft Movie Recap
We finally got to see the trailer at Blizzcon this year! The movie comes out June 10, 2016.

Press Event
There was a press event for the movie that featured Duncan Jones, Chris Metzen, and some of the movie cast.

• The initial version of the movie felt a little bit like "Humans are good, everything else is bad". Duncan Jones came in and pitched a film that told the story of both sides with the same empathy, care, and time.
• Blizzard wanted to share the Warcraft story with people around the world, especially the vast part of the world population that doesn't play games.
• Blizzard and Legendary shared a lot of the same values, so it was a great match.
• Duncan laid out his vision for the film and it felt like he was pulling the thoughts right out of their heads. He gets the details right and appreciates the nuances.
• The movie is a chance to show people who we love what it is that has gripped us so strongly for such a long period of time.
• If you don't play Warcraft, you can still appreciate the movie as a fantastical story of right and wrong, as well as choosing the right thing to do.
• If they do play Warcraft, there are so many great Easter eggs hidden in the movie for you to find.
• This movie really feels like it is for everybody.
• Durotan was all motion capture, so it took a strong director to make it work. You really have to become the character and get every detail right, as motion capture will capture every detail.
• There was an orc cam to help actors get used to motion capture and create a movement vocabulary for Orcs.
• Paula Patton plays Garona. She got the script and loved it because it read like a novel, with great background and history for every character.
• Patton was also fascinated by the fact that her character was half human and half Orc, living a life of pain and struggle as a slave to Gul'dan. She had to fight to gain respect in the Orc culture and now feels like a fish out of water in the human world.
• Patton found the role challenging and initially scary, but she eventually learned to ride a horse and wield a sword.
• Garona is the bridge between two cultures that have never met and are now meeting for the first time.

Q&A

• The actors got some idea of what things would look like during motion capture but they didn't see a completed and finished Orc until after they had been shooting for several weeks. Seeing how great the Orcs would look was a relief to all of them.
• Technology has significantly advanced since Avatar, so the motion capture used in Warcraft was even nicer than Avatar.
• Gul'dan has an unusual posture, so the actor had to squat and stay hunched over during filming.
• The movie is a retelling of Warcraft 1, which was turned into a novel called The Last Guardian. The novel allowed them to build out the characters and story more, but storytelling of games was still crude in 1994. The mythology grew a little more with the movie, along with some tactical calls to simplify themes and ideas. The movie is the ultimate version of Warcraft 1, streamlining all of the best parts into something better.
• The team made some weird decisions with the lore over time, some things Metzen wishes he could take back. Retelling the story was a chance for redemption, making the Warcraft 1 that everyone remembers, but better.
• The "For the Horde", "For the Alliance", and "For Azeroth" roars from Blizzcon 2014 did get used!

Trailer Screenshots

Press Kit Images

Movie Posters

[TrumpIsPresident]

Not gonna lie ...was kinda hoping to see some sexy night elf chicks.

[Deleted]

interesting

[Arcanen]

Was that Dalaran I saw in the press kit images? Why was it floating, it didn't start floating untill WC3 and this movie is based off of WC1 correct?

Also baby Thrall FTW!

[iamthedevil]

Was that Dalaran I saw in the press kit images? Why was it floating, it didn't start floating untill WC3 and this movie is based off of WC1 correct?

Also baby Thrall FTW!

Correct, it has been changed for the movie because, well, floating Dalaran is much more awesome.

[Deleted]

Isn't Garona half-draenei, not half-human?

[Xerfall]

Wait, what? Garona is half-orc half-draenei! What's going on? :S

[Amerissis]

Wait, what? Garona is half-orc half-draenei! What's going on? :S

Movie universe <> game universe. Just like all those hero movies which aren't 1 on 1 copies of the comicbooks. Human/orc in a movie about a war between humans and orcs is obviously much more interesting then half 'race that isn't even in the movie'.

[acg137]

Wait, what? Garona is half-orc half-draenei! What's going on? :S

It's one of those things that we know but the movie world can't (imagine reading Harry Potter 1-7 and the first movie is just about to come out today. Granted Sorcerer's stone came out during the first 4 books.. Y'know what I mean)

For all intents and purposes, Garona, at the time of Warcraft 1, is considered a Half Human, Half Orc.

I'm more concerned about some orcs that are supposed to be green skinned are still Mag'har... Then again yeah movie magic.

As long as they remain as faithful to the lore/story & can still capture that - I say why not.

[Deleted]

I get that the floating version of Dalaran is much cooler to look at, but I really wonder how they will explain it with the lore. If they don't, it's reaallyy gonna bother me. Also, what is that structure at the start of the trailer? Karazhan, Dalaran, A mage Tower?

[OndikusMaximus]

• Patton was also fascinated by the fact that her character was half human and half Orc, living a life of pain and struggle as a slave to Gul'dan. She had to fight to gain respect in the Orc culture and now feels like a fish out of water in the human world.
• Garona is the bridge between two cultures that have never met and are now meeting for the first time.

If those cultures never met, how the hell does an adult half-orc-half-human even exist o.O

[Awelon]

• Patton was also fascinated by the fact that her character was half human and half Orc, living a life of pain and struggle as a slave to Gul'dan. She had to fight to gain respect in the Orc culture and now feels like a fish out of water in the human world.
• Garona is the bridge between two cultures that have never met and are now meeting for the first time.

If those cultures never met, how the hell does an adult half-orc-half-human even exist o.O

My point exactly. If they come to the Azeroth like, now and have never been in contact with the humans before, how the hell there's a half-orc/half-human in there? Other than that, I couldn't care less for the changes in the movie vs. game world (just like they did with Lotr, Harry Potter, all the Marvel movies etc.) if it servers the movie in some way or the other.

[inexcitus]

Tbh, I absolutely don't like the CGI. Trailer still looks good.

[OndikusMaximus]

My point exactly. If they come to the Azeroth like, now and have never been in contact with the humans before, how the hell there's a half-orc/half-human in there? Other than that, I couldn't care less for the changes in the movie vs. game world (just like they did with Lotr, Harry Potter, all the Marvel movies etc.) if it servers the movie in some way or the other.

What just crossed my mind, they had to be in contact, both Gul'dan and Medivh are in the movie and if their story wasnt retconned theres a possibility that Medivh gave Gul'dan his blood or something and he made a mutant as his slave. That would explain Garona. Kinda.

[Nyres]

Movie universe <> game universe. Just like all those hero movies which aren't 1 on 1 copies of the comicbooks. Human/orc in a movie about a war between humans and orcs is obviously much more interesting then half 'race that isn't even in the movie'.

Or what's more likely is they're going to 'forget' about that again because if they didn't they'd have to briefly cover what happened to the dreanei and after that segment no one would be sympathetic to any of the orcs. Honestly it feels like they just want to try and perpetuate the orcs as being some sort of noble race which after 11 years its safe to say they aren't. This was their big chance to finally work dreanei into the lore from the start even in a 5-10minute recap scene of orc history for Warcraft 1 but they seem to have blown that opportunity.

[Deleted]

Most people thought Garona was half human (I think even Khadgar was canfused when first seeing her in "The Last Guardian").
What I don't understand what is going on with Lothar and Garona in the trailer, I hope there won't be any romance story between them.

[Neony]

Not really sure why we are discussing a movie on mmo-champion's main page. Thought this was a mmo-gaming site, not movie reviewers guild.

With that said, I absolutely loathe the way the orcs look. The eyes are way too small, or their skull too big. This is going to annoy me throughout the film. I'm not gonna watch it on the cinema as the cinema is excruciatingly expensive here.

Maybe I'll change my mind when more trailers are released.

[Duster505]

I have a very hard time connecting to these characters. The Orcs to me look so unnatural. It is perfect for a game - but just becomes half stupid when you try to add intellect and emotion to those bastards :P

[Kryos]

The lighting is bad and needs to be changed in post production. Every scene there is a strong white light, that way everything looks like a bad greenscreen or actors standind before a wallpaper:

[Shalaman]

CGI looks really bad right now to be honest, i just hope the post-processing will be amazing when the movie comes out. Looks very unnatural at the moment. You can see it's a green screen way too often.