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Warcraft (alternatively known as Warcraft: The Beginning)[4] is a 2016 American action fantasy film based on the video game series of the same name. Directed by Duncan Jones, who co-wrote with Charles Leavitt, it stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, and Daniel Wu. The film follows Anduin Lothar of Stormwind and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan as heroes set on opposite sides of a growing war, as the warlock Gul'dan leads the Horde to invade Azeroth using a magic portal. Together, a few human heroes and dissenting Orcs must attempt to stop the true evil behind this war and restore peace.

The film was first announced in 2006 as a project partnership between Legendary Pictures and the game's developer, Blizzard Entertainment.[5] Warcraft premiered in Paris on May 24, 2016, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on June 10, 2016.[6] The film grossed $439 million worldwide against a production budget of $160 million,[7] becoming the highest-grossing film based on a video game at the time. However, it failed to reach its break-even point of $450–500 million after global marketing and distribution. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, though fans of the Warcraft franchise were kinder to it.

Plot

Draenor, homeworld to the orcs, is being torn apart by a force known as fel magic. Orc warlock Gul'dan unites the orc clans into the Horde, and creates a portal to another world, Azeroth, by using fel magic to drain the life out of captive draenei. Gul'dan leads a small warband through the portal to capture and sacrifice prisoners on Azeroth to bring the Horde. Durotan, chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan, his pregnant mate Draka, and his friend Orgrim Doomhammer join this initial warband. On Azeroth, Draka goes into labor, and Gul'dan rescues Go'el, the dying baby, by draining the life out of a deer to revive and infuse him with fel magic. The orcs raid settlements throughout Azeroth. Anduin Lothar, commander of the human forces of Stormwind Kingdom, finds trespassing mage Khadgar investigating the bodies of the slain men. Khadgar notices the bodies contain traces of fel magic. Stormwind's king, Llane Wrynn, sends them to the stronghold Karazhan to inform Medivh, the Guardian of Tirisfal, of the fel magic's presence on Azeroth.

Lothar, Khadgar, and Medivh join a scouting team following traces of fel magic, but are ambushed by orcs. Medivh uses a spell to kill the fel-corrupted orcs, leaving the Horde's warchief, Blackhand, to flee along with Durotan and Orgrim. The team takes a half-orc slave, Garona, as prisoner, but Llane releases her in exchange for loyalty to Stormwind. Garona leads the humans to spy on the orc camp, where they learn of Gul'dan's plan to bring the Horde to Azeroth. While studying a book found in Medivh's library, Khadgar realizes that Gul'dan had help from someone in Azeroth opening the portal. Despite Orgrim's objections, Durotan meets with Llane secretly to unite the Frostwolf Clan and the humans against Gul'dan, but the group is ambushed by Blackhand. Medivh forms a magical barrier to protect the humans' retreat, but Lothar's son Callan is separated from the group and killed by Blackhand. Medivh is weakened, and Garona and Khadgar take him back to Karazhan to recover. Khadgar eventually realizes that Medivh is the one who helped Gul'dan, having been corrupted by fel magic. At the orc camp, Blackhand purges the Frostwolf Clan. Orgrim helps Draka to escape. After sending Go'el down a river in a basket, Draka is found and killed.

Durotan challenges Gul'dan to Mak'gora, a duel to the death for leadership of the orcs. During the fight, Gul'dan violates the honorable combat rules by draining the life out of Durotan with magic, killing him and earning the disapproval of the orcs watching. He then empowers Blackhand with the same magic. Medivh, now in a half-demonic state, starts to open the portal to Draenor, and Gul'dan begins sacrificing the captured humans to allow the rest of the Horde to enter Azeroth. Llane leads the human army in an assault on the orc camp, while Lothar and Khadgar fight Medivh and destroy the demon that began to manifest on the outside. Medivh is mortally wounded, and uses the last of his strength to close the portal to Draenor. He then opens a portal to Stormwind, allowing Llane to evacuate most of the freed prisoners. Medivh dies and the portal closes, leaving Llane, Garona, and a small number of human soldiers to fight the orcs. Llane secretly orders Garona to kill him, bringing her honor among the orcs and putting her in a position of power to bring peace between the two races. Garona reluctantly does so and is welcomed into the Horde by Gul'dan. Lothar arrives to retrieve King Llane's body, but is confronted by Blackhand, who challenges Lothar to Mak'gora, with Lothar defeating and killing him, avenging Callan's death. Against Gul'dan's demands, the orcs, bound by tradition, allow Lothar to depart with Llane's body.

During Llane's funeral, the leaders of the other human nations, along with the high elves and dwarves, proclaim an alliance against the orcs and support Lothar as the leader of the Alliance. Elsewhere, Orgrim takes one of Durotan's tusks to one day give to Go'el. The basket containing Go'el is found by a human.

Cast

In addition, Terry Notary provides the voice and motion-capture for Grommash Hellscream, the orc chieftain of the Warsong Clan, though the part is listed in the credits as Peon. Notary also served as stunt coordinator and movement coach for the film, working with cast members Kebbell, Kazinsky, Brown, Wu and Galvin on their portrayals of the orcs, and with Foster on his portrayals of magic.[11] Michael Adamthwaite appears as King Magni Bronzebeard, the dwarf ruler of Ironforge.

Glenn Close makes an uncredited appearance as Alodi, an ancient mage locked in an artifact within Dalaran, described as "the Guardian before there was a Guardian".[12][13] In the comics, Alodi was the first Guardian of Tirisfal and a male half-elf, while the character in the film is closer to that of Aegwynn, Medivh's mother. Chris Metzen, who served as a co-producer and uncredited story writer for the film, and is the Senior Vice-president of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard Entertainment and the voice of Thrall in the Warcraft franchise, makes an uncredited cameo appearance as a turbaned perfume vendor on the streets of Stormwind Kingdom.[14]

Production

Development and pre-production

The project was officially announced in May 2006[5] with Blizzard initially wanting it to be set in the universe of the real-time strategy Warcraft: Orcs and Humans video game from 1994. This setting was later dropped because Blizzard decided that it would be too similar to The Lord of the Rings.[15] Initially scheduled for a 2009 release, the film would not see a release in that year.[16] By Comic-Con 2011, the film was announced to still only be in the development stage.[17]

File:SDCC 2015 - Warcraft panel (19708584916).jpg

The cast of Warcraft at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con to promote the film.

Uwe Boll made a bid to direct, but was turned away by Blizzard, who he claims to have said, "We will not sell the movie rights, not to you… especially not to you. Because it's such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it."[18] Sam Raimi was initially attached to direct,[19][20] but was replaced by Duncan Jones in January 2013.[21] Upon coming aboard, Jones immediately voiced his displeasure at the script, which he stated "was the stale fantasy trope of, humans are the good guys, monsters are the bad guys". With Blizzard's approval (who had also been looking to change the story), Jones altered the story so that "It's 50-50."[22] Jones also faced personal struggles during filming, as his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after Jones took over, and his father, David Bowie, died from cancer late in production. Jones thus summed up the challenge by telling The New York Times, "My film started and ended with cancer."[22] At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2013, a concept trailer was presented, featuring a battle between a human and an orc.[23]

Paul Dano, Travis Fimmel, Anson Mount, and Anton Yelchin emerged as the frontrunners for the lead role, with Fimmel winning the role in October 2013.[24][25] On December 4, 2013, the main cast of the film, consisting of Fimmel, Ben Foster, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell and Robert Kazinsky, was announced. Idina Menzel, Debbie Gibson, Julie Delpy, Alison Eastwood and Leighton Meester were also considered for the role of Garona Halforcen. On December 14, 2013, Universal added Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown to the cast.[26] In early March 2014, newcomer Burkely Duffield joined the cast.[27]

Filming

Principal photography began on January 13, 2014, and lasted for four months, finishing on May 23, 2014.[28][29] Filming took place primarily in Vancouver, among other locations.[30][31] Post-production lasted twenty months.[32] Regarding the use of computer-generated imagery, Jones said, "It's a tool like any other. It can be done well and it can be done shit. The best CGI has you forgetting [that] it's CGI, and accepting the visual as whatever it is supposed to be—like props. No one has an issue with props in film, do they?"[33] Cinematographer Simon Duggan stated the film had a long prep of about 12 weeks, in addition to the 18 weeks of shooting.[34]

Music

Warcraft: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack.[35] This music was composed by Ramin Djawadi and released on June 10, 2016.[36] Djawadi was hired by Jones and Legendary Pictures in October 2014.[35] The vinyl version of the soundtrack was released on September 5, 2016.[37]

Release

Theatrical

Warcraft was set to be released on December 18, 2015, but following the announcement of the coinciding release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the release was pushed back to the following year.[6] The film premiered at the Le Grand Rex in Paris on May 24, 2016. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2016,[38] in the United States on June 10, 2016[6] and in Australia on June 16, 2016.[39]

Home media

Warcraft was released on digital download on September 13, 2016,[40] and was released on Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on September 27 in the United States and Canada.[41] Select editions of the physical release include a digital copy of World of Warcraft along with digital bonus codes for other Blizzard games to tie-in with the film.[42]

Reception

Box office

Warcraft grossed $47.4 million in the United States, and $391.7 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $439.1 million.[2] Given its $160 million production budget and additional $110 million spent on promotions, the film needed to earn $450–500 million in order to break-even.[43][44][45] In July 2016, The Hollywood Reporter said the film lost the studio around $15 million, although noted several executives put the losses in the $30–40 million range.[46] Worldwide, it became the highest-grossing film based on a video game until it was surpassed by The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023.[47] It was the first video game film to cross $400 million in ticket sales globally,[48] and was also only the second Hollywood release (after Terminator Genisys) to earn $100 million in China without making $100 million in the United States.[49]

In the United States and Canada, Warcraft opened on June 10, 2016, alongside The Conjuring 2 and Now You See Me 2, and was projected to gross around $25 million in its opening weekend from 3,400 theaters.[50][51][52] Variety reported that the film was generating only moderate interest among U.S. moviegoers, which could possibly hurt its box office performance stateside, with poor reviews and competition from the aforementioned films and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (released the week prior) also affecting its performance.[53] The film grossed $3.1 million in its Thursday night previews and $10.7 million on its first day.[54][45] It went on to gross $24.2 million, finishing second at the box office behind The Conjuring 2 ($40.4 million).[55] It fell by 70% on its second weekend, earning $7.2 million.[56]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 29% based on Template:RT data reviews with an average rating of Template:RT data. The website's critical consensus reads, "Warcraft has visual thrills to spare, but they – and director Duncan Jones' distinctive gifts – are wasted on a sluggish and derivative adaptation of a bestselling game with little evident cinematic value."[57] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 32 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[58] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[45]

Geoff Berkshire of Variety criticized the film's attempts at adapting a source material with "inherent ridiculousness" with regard to how the original game series was not meant to have a very deep narrative: "[I]t's an unwaveringly earnest film that never owns up to exactly how campy every character, every conflict and every new realm truly is."[59] A.A. Dowd of The A.V. Club wrote that, "To watch Warcraft is never to be transported, but to wade through a thick morass of mythology, exposition, gaudy light-show effects, half-assed character development, and formulaic franchise groundwork," while describing director/cowriter Duncan Jones as "a talented sci-fi fabulist who's fallen screaming into the same CGI abyss that consumed Peter Jackson during his unfortunate Hobbit cycle."[60] Helen O'Hara, reviewing for British GQ, stated that although the film itself is a "strong adaptation" of Warcraft, the script diminishes the film's impact: "The problem is that it just can't escape those cod-fantasy roots. There are too many mysterious proper nouns being thrown into conversation and at least 12 major characters competing for space … [W]e're zipping from one to another here so quickly that they only have time for the most portentous, and sometimes clichéd, dialogue."[61]

Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, citing the performances and story as highlights.[62] Brian Truitt of USA Today also praised the acting, particularly Kebbell's performance as Durotan. "Kebbell's performance showcases the nuances of a father gripped by the no-win situation of having no home and his family in constant danger." Truitt also stated that he found it was not necessary for viewers of the film to have prior knowledge of the Warcraft series to enjoy the film.[63]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result Template:Ref heading
Annie Award February 4, 2017 Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production John Hansen, George Kuruvilla, Alexis Hall, Gordon Chapman and Ben O’Brien Nominated [64]
Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production Orcs - Hal Hickel, Jee Young Park, Kai-Hua Lan, Cedric Lo and KimHuat Ooi Nominated
Visual Effects Society Awards February 7, 2017 Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature Durotan – Sunny Wei, Brian Cantwell, Brian Paik, Jee Young Park Nominated [65]

Future

With the film's storyline leaving Warcraft open to possible sequels, Jones has expressed interest in a sequel to the film, likely to be adapted from Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the second video game in the Warcraft franchise.[66][67] On June 18, 2018, Jones tweeted that the chance of Warcraft getting a sequel "doesn't look good".[68] In September 2020, it was reported that Legendary is developing a new Warcraft film, though it was unclear if this is a planned reboot or a sequel to Jones' film, or if it will continue to be distributed by Universal Pictures or transferred to Legendary's current release partners Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. or Netflix.[69]

See also

Notes


References

  1. ↑ Pamela McClintock (May 18, 2016). "Summer Box-Office Guide to 'Suicide Squad,' Safe Bets and Potential Misfires"..
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Warcraft (2016)". Box Office Mojo.
  3. ↑ "Warcraft: The Beginning (12A)".. British Board of Film Classification.
  4. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (November 2, 2015). "Warcraft: The Beginning poster revealed ahead of trailer release on Friday".. Digital Spy.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Blizzard Entertainment (May 9, 2006). "Blizzard Entertainment® And Legendary Pictures To Produce Live-Action Warcraft® Movie"..
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Stedman, Alex (April 23, 2015). "'Pacific Rim 2' Pushed Back to Summer 2017".. Variety.
  7. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (July 13, 2016). "Box-Office Analysis: 'Warcraft' Avoids "Utter Failure" But Will Still Lose Money". The Hollywood Reporter.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 "New Warcraft movie posters offer a closer look at its orcs and humans". Polygon (April 7, 2016).
  9. ↑ "Ben Foster Reveals His Character in the Warcraft Movie". (May 30, 2014).
  10. ↑ "Meet the 'Warcraft' warriors: Ben Schnetzer is rookie mage Khadgar". USA Today.
  11. ↑ "/Film Visits ILM To Learn Why the Visual Effects in 'Warcraft' Are Considered "Groundbreaking"". (May 16, 2016).
  12. ↑ "The Warcraft movie is too faithful by half".. Eurogamer (May 30, 2016).
  13. ↑ "'Warcraft' Film Review". (May 24, 2016).
  14. ↑ "The legendary cocreator of 'Warcraft,' 'Diablo,' and 'StarCraft' is retiring at age 42"..
  15. ↑ Charles Onyett (August 4, 2007). "BlizzCon 2007: New Details of the Warcraft Movie"..
  16. ↑ Michael McWhertor (August 4, 2007). "Warcraft Movie Details Revealed At BlizzCon"..
  17. ↑ Pete Haas (July 22, 2010). "Comic Con: World Of Warcraft Movie Isn't Dead But It's Nowhere Close To Happening"..
  18. ↑ "Blizzard to Boll: Thanks, but no thanks".. Engadget (April 21, 2008).
  19. ↑ "Sam Raimi plays 'Warcraft'". (July 22, 2009).
  20. ↑ Fred Topel (July 13, 2012). "Comic Con 2012 Exclusive: Sam Raimi Won't Direct the World of Warcraft Movie"..
  21. ↑ Borys Kit (January 30, 2013). "'Warcraft' Movie Lands 'Source Code' Director (Exclusive)"..
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Duncan Jones, David Bowie's Son, on Making 'Warcraft' and Facing His Own Battles", The New York Times (May 24, 2016). 
  23. ↑ Vejvoda, Jim (July 20, 2013). "Comic-Con: Warcraft Sizzle Reel Shown".. IGN.com.
  24. ↑ "Paul Dano, Travis Fimmel, Anson Mount, Anton Yelchin On 'Warcraft' Short List". (September 23, 2013).
  25. ↑ "'Vikings' Actor Travis Fimmel Game for Legendary's 'Warcraft' (EXCLUSIVE)". (October 26, 2013).
  26. ↑ Yamato, Jen (December 18, 2013). "Daniel Wu, Clancy Brown Join Big Screen World Of 'Warcraft'". 
  27. ↑ Mendoza, Jon (March 26, 2015). "'Warcraft': Duncan Jones, Travis Fimmel Reveal What Fans Will See In Video Game-Based Film", Yibada. 
  28. ↑ Duncan Jones (May 23, 2014). "Twitter / ManMadeMoon: Final day on Warcraft now…"..
  29. ↑ "Duncan Jones' Big Screen 'Warcraft' Adaptation Finally Wraps Production", thewrap.com (May 23, 2014). 
  30. ↑ Germain Lussier (May 23, 2014). "Duncan Jones' 'Warcraft' Has Wrapped Production"..
  31. ↑ "World of Warcraft movie set to film in Vancouver early next year"..
  32. ↑ "World of Warcraft film post-production will take about 20 months to 'get right'".. Polygon.com (May 6, 2014).
  33. ↑ Matt Peckham (May 20, 2016). "Here's Everything We Know About the Warcraft Movie So Far". Time. Archived from the original on February 12, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
  34. ↑ Andy Wooding (July 24, 2016). "Film Doctor Warcraft cinematographer Simon Duggan In Conversation"..
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "Ramin Djawadi to Score Duncan Jones' 'Warcraft' Movie".. filmmusicreporter.com (October 17, 2014).
  36. ↑ "Warcraft: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". AllMusic.
  37. ↑ "'Warcraft' score up for pre-order".. modern-vinyl.com (July 27, 2016).
  38. ↑ "Warcraft movie release date, trailer, cast, plot, poster, spoilers and everything you need to know", Digital Spy. 
  39. ↑ "The 'Warcraft' movie is totally transforming its actors into orc warriors", SBS, SBS (May 17, 2016). 
  40. ↑ "Warcraft: The Beginning".. New DVD Release Dates.
  41. ↑ "From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment And Legendary Pictures: Warcraft".. PR Newswire (July 28, 2016).
  42. ↑ "Buy WARCRAFT™ on Blu-Ray and DVD, Get Three Epic Digital Loot Drops".. Blizzard Entertainment (September 12, 2016).
  43. ↑ Abid Rahman and Patrick Brzeski (June 14, 2016). "Legendary Sells 'Warcraft' China Online Rights For Record Sum"..
  44. ↑ Pamela McClintock (July 3, 2016). "Box Office: 'Finding Dory' Sinks 'Legend of Tarzan,' 'BFG' With $50M-Plus"..
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 Anthony D'Alessandro (June 13, 2016). "'Conjuring 2' Screams Up $37M+, 'Warcraft' Spoils At $26M+, 'Now You See Me 2' At $22M+". Deadline Hollywood.
  46. ↑ Pamela McClintock (July 13, 2016). "Box-Office Analysis: 'Warcraft' Avoids "Utter Failure" But Will Still Lose Money"..
  47. ↑ Scott Mendelson (June 19, 2016). "Box Office: 'Warcraft' Is The 'Batman V Superman' Of Video Game Movies"..
  48. ↑ Scott Mendelson (June 26, 2016). "Box Office: 'Warcraft' Crosses $400M Global, 'Finding Dory' Tops Weekend"..
  49. ↑ Scott Mendelson (June 8, 2016). "Box Office: 'Warcraft' Snags Jaw-Dropping $46 Million Opening Day In China"..
  50. ↑ Dave McNary (May 27, 2016). "'Warcraft' Opens in First in 11 International Markets With $9.3 Million"..
  51. ↑ Pamela McClintock (June 5, 2016). "Box Office: 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2' Wins Ho-Hum Weekend With $35.3M"..
  52. ↑ Lang, Brent (June 7, 2016). "Box Office: 'Conjuring 2' to Ward Off 'Warcraft,' 'Now You See Me 2'". Variety.
  53. ↑ Dave McNary (May 26, 2016). "$160 Million-Budgeted 'Warcraft' Faces Tough Battle at Box Office"..
  54. ↑ "'Warcraft' Invades The U.S. On Thursday Night". Deadline Hollywood.
  55. ↑ Pamela McClintock (June 12, 2016). "Box Office: 'Conjuring 2' Soars to $40.4M; 'Warcraft' Bombs in U.S. With $24.4M"..
  56. ↑ "Warcraft (2016)"..
  57. ↑ "Warcraft (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Template:RT data
  58. ↑ "Warcraft Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive.
  59. ↑ "Film Review: 'Warcraft'". Variety. Variety Media, LLC (May 24, 2016).
  60. ↑ "There's nothing immersive (or fun) about this world of Warcraft". The A.V. Club (June 8, 2016).
  61. ↑ O'Hara, Helen (May 26, 2016). "The World of Warcraft film script needed another read", Condé Nast UK. 
  62. ↑ "'Warcraft': Film Review".. The Hollywood Reporter (May 24, 2016).
  63. ↑ "Review: 'Warcraft' doesn't default to fantasy as usual".. USA Today (2016-06-08).
  64. ↑ 2/4/2017 Carolyn Giardina (February 4, 2017). "Annies: 'Zootopia' Wins Big With 6 Awards Including Best Animated Feature". The Hollywood Reporter.
  65. ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (January 10, 2016). "'Rogue One' Leads Visual Effects Society Feature Competition With 7 Nominations As 'Doctor Strange,' 'Jungle Book' Grab 6 Each".. The Hollywood Reporter.
  66. ↑ Reed, Jane (July 5, 2016). "'WarCraft 2': Movie Sequel 'Tides Of Darkness': Second War On The Way"..
  67. ↑ Marnell, Blair (January 6, 2017). "Duncan Jones Hints at Potential Warcraft 2 Storylines"..
  68. ↑ "Twitter / @RyanLeger2 @leeunkrich @warcraftmovie Doesn't look good, my friend.".. Twitter.com (June 18, 2018).
  69. ↑ "Another 'World of Warcraft' Film In-Development".. Knight Edge Media (September 18, 2020).


External links

Template:Warcraft