Check out the first official poster for Duncan Jones’ Warcraft (click to embiggen that sucker). It’s got faces on it!
As someone who has never played a single second of any Warcraft (or is it WarCraft?) game, this movie needs to do a lot to sell me on it. Now, I am kind of in the bag as far as the director goes. Duncan Jones is someone who should be making mega-budget movies as he’s obviously a director with some fresh perspective and the vision to implement it. And from all reports, Warcraft is going to be a big test of that ability. The budget is reportedly been large enough to make Universal worry if they’re going to see a good enough return on this thing.
I’m all for immense fantasy worlds in my film, but will Warcraft be able to sell to those outside of its established fanbase and peripheral dorks like myself? I do think the Warcraft name feels much less impacting than it once was, and I also wonder if the overabundance of parody that the property has been subjected to will hurt its chances to broaden its audience.
And lest we forget, this is a video game movie adaptation. Those don’t have the best track record when it comes to satisfying both its fans and a wider audience. It seems like Hollywood is taking another stab at the genre with this, Assassin’s Creed, and even Angry Birds and their success (or failure) could determine the fate of other video game adaptation. Maybe if they do well, I could finally sucker some company into making my adaptation of Metal Slug.
A trailer for Warcraft drops this Friday. We’ll have a better idea of what this beast is like then.
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