China Brings in About Half of All Revenue for Warcraft Movie

SBFord

China Brings in About Half of All Revenue for Warcraft Movie

Warcraft has now earned more money worldwide than any other movie based on a video game. China alone with its $204M in ticket sales has brought in nearly half of the $412M generated worldwide. According to GlobalVoices.org, the movie hits a nostalgic note with what some call the "Warcraft Generation" for its singular devotion to the IP.

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SpottyGekko

Not surprising in the least.

WoW is without a doubt the most popular MMO to ever have a movie spinoff, so it stands to reason that a significant chunk of the game's multi-million fanbase will watch the movie. And quite possibly take their friends and family with them as well...

tawess

So about the same as with the actual game then =P 

Any way... Looking forward to the next Warcraft movie. 

Koboli

I play, but didn't see it - refuse to see it, in fact. Everything I've read is that the movie is just God-awful; spectacular graphics, horrendous plot and acting. I seem to recall a Final Fantasy film that suffered the same problems, and, like a fool, I spent my hard-won high school job dollars on that boondoggle out of a misplaced 'brand loyalty.'

Hollywood judges movies based on their domestic performance. It doesn't matter to industry bigwigs if a film manages to 'break even' or even turn a little profit overseas - a failure in the states is a failure. Moreover, when movies franchises do badly their first go-around but spawn sequels, the sequel almost always does worse than the original film - it's just human nature for people to avoid objects with a stigma.

So, that is the end of Warcraft movies, regardless if some talking head comes out in the next few weeks and says "oh yeah yeah yeah - we're gonna make another!!!" And, that's fine. Warcraft lore is like a barren, medieval farm without crop rotation - it's been denuded of all nutrients. Unless Blizzard releases another RTS to repopulate the story, we'll continue to see rehash expansions like WoD and Legion (as well as films, in theory but not practice) like this. 

Righteous_Rock

1 Chinese Yuan equals
0.15 US Dollar, What's that in EU money :-)

SBFord

Given that Legendary is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda , maybe they'll just make Warcraft films for China only with digital download or straight-to-DVD releases in other regions.

jesteralways

Did you direct a piss poor movie in hollywood? did you hope to making millions out of your piss poor movie? Did hollywood reject your crap and now you are about to go broke?

DO NOT WORRY!!! HERE IN CHINA WE ARE SO HUNGRY FOR HOLLYWOOD THAT WE ARE WILLING TO PAY ANYTHING!! SO JUST RELEASE IN CHINA AND BECOME RICH!! BECOME THE GREAT AND TALENTED DIRECTOR YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE HERE IN CHINA!!! WE WELCOME ANYTHING HOLLYWOOD!!!

Disclaimer : here we have so much restriction and censoring that we can't even watch some quality foreign movie, so we don't care for quality...JUST LET US WATCH SOME HOLLYWOOD!! JUST LET US DREAM SOME AMERICAN DREAM!!! 

Volgore

I'm just concerned that the huge success in China can possibly influence the next movie in a way many of us western folks wouldn't be really comfortable with:

Koboli

SBFord said:

Given that Legendary is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda , maybe they'll just make Warcraft films for China only with digital download or straight-to-DVD releases in other regions.

Have you seen Chinese films? They... uh... well, suffice it to say, there are a number of other nations where the movie could be developed into a more palatable format for western audiences.

SBFord

ProvenceTristram said:

SBFord said:

Given that Legendary is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda , maybe they'll just make Warcraft films for China only with digital download or straight-to-DVD releases in other regions.

Have you seen Chinese films? They... uh... well, suffice it to say, there are a number of other nations where the movie could be developed into a more palatable format for western audiences.

Haha no -- I just figured maybe they just won't bother with "Western" release on anything other than digital or DVD.

Sovrath

ProvenceTristram said:

SBFord said:

Given that Legendary is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda , maybe they'll just make Warcraft films for China only with digital download or straight-to-DVD releases in other regions.

Have you seen Chinese films? They... uh... well, suffice it to say, there are a number of other nations where the movie could be developed into a more palatable format for western audiences.

Thanks for that, I'm going to rent that tonight!

But "yeah" I was going to say, Chinese films have a different sensibility than western films and it's very possible that the Warcraft movie resonates with them differently.

I should add that this is the highest grossing film in china (another on my list). I wonder how many in the west might actually like it "as is"?

https://www.amazon.com/Mermaid-Yun-Lin/dp/B01FGFKJ2M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467146332&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mermaid

BeansnBread

it's funny that a movie that is this critically panned can make $412 million. I mean, I've seen 50 - 60 type ratings on rotten tomatoes do really well, but this thing is sitting in the 20s.

Sovrath

BeansnBread said:

it's funny that a movie that is this critically panned can make $412 million. I mean, I've seen 50 - 60 type ratings on rotten tomatoes do really well, but this thing is sitting in the 20s.

Nah, there are movies that have horrendous reviews that have grossed large amounts.

Da Vinci Code is one. Transformers Revenge of the fallen is another.

Koboli

Sovrath said:

ProvenceTristram said:

SBFord said:

Given that Legendary is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda , maybe they'll just make Warcraft films for China only with digital download or straight-to-DVD releases in other regions.

Have you seen Chinese films? They... uh... well, suffice it to say, there are a number of other nations where the movie could be developed into a more palatable format for western audiences.

Thanks for that, I'm going to rent that tonight!

But "yeah" I was going to say, Chinese films have a different sensibility than western films and it's very possible that the Warcraft movie resonates with them differently.

The weird thing is the difference between Japanese films and Chinese films. As an American, I can watch almost anything Japanese with subtitles and 'get it' - the humor, drama, love, etc. are all presented in essentially a western format (okay, confessing your feelings to a significant other is a bigger deal in Japan than it is in America - we just blurt it out; they agonize). Just sit down and watch, say, Amagi Brilliant Park over on Kissanime - it's friggin' brilliant, roving from deep, satisfying belly laughs to soul-crushing sadness over the expanse of a few minutes.

But then you look at something Chinese and... I dunno. It's like we're not even approaching things on the same plane of thought. Culturally, there's just this enormous, almost unbridgaable gap that (even when you sweep aside the obvious crappiness of their production values) prevents me from deriving even a modicum of enjoyment.  

jesteralways

Volgore said:

I'm just concerned that the huge success in China can possibly influence the next movie in a way many of us western folks wouldn't be really comfortable with:

After how they blatantly ripped off warcraft in 3 freaking movies(the last one was just way too obvious and sad to watch), i think having a pandaren in a warcraft movie will just be sad.... 

Dragnelus

Movie was awesome cant wait for the new one.

Deltois

Great movie, the point is?

Alomar

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, as did the other 6 x-WoW players I knew who went to see it. In fact it brought so much nostalgia back for me I'm actually considering going back to WoW for the first time in years with this expansion. I saw early on via sites that China was leading in revenue, not surprising in the least since that's long been where the majority of it's remaining player base these past years live.

MikePaladin

Glad to know that Chinese aren't snobs and hipsters

toomuch4212

Sovrath said:

BeansnBread said:

it's funny that a movie that is this critically panned can make $412 million. I mean, I've seen 50 - 60 type ratings on rotten tomatoes do really well, but this thing is sitting in the 20s.

Nah, there are movies that have horrendous reviews that have grossed large amounts.

Da Vinci Code is one. Transformers Revenge of the fallen is another.

and both of those films had more than one sequel. Plus people have to realize if Blizzard continues to stand behind it, and all the cooks that through into that pot are allowed to stick around, theres a strong chance on another release. If not just solely to dvd/digital here in the states, still. Not to mention Blizzard can throw more money at it than any other company and just grab backers and studios to match it along the way.


And I wouldn't be surprised if Duncan Jones' real cut that's 45 minutes longer wasn't even half bad. I still will watch the director's cut out of interest and to formulate my own opinion on it even though I do not have very high hopes, considering all the bad reviews, I tend to not go off of that, especially nowadays.


I don't think anybody is going to break the game to film stigma until somebody creates an original formula that works. At least once. It took 40 years++ of comic book movie and tv show failures to grab anything of substance, and even then it was/is nothing that really holds the test of time (barring maybe 10% at most, and for future nostalgia and cult like classic followings alone I'm sure).

BeansnBread

Sovrath said:

BeansnBread said:

it's funny that a movie that is this critically panned can make $412 million. I mean, I've seen 50 - 60 type ratings on rotten tomatoes do really well, but this thing is sitting in the 20s.

Nah, there are movies that have horrendous reviews that have grossed large amounts.

Da Vinci Code is one. Transformers Revenge of the fallen is another.

Wow, I didn't realize how low the critics rated the Da Vinci Code. Transformers I get, but those numbers for the Da Vinci Code are terrible.

laserit

ProvenceTristram said:

Sovrath said:

ProvenceTristram said:

SBFord said:

Given that Legendary is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda , maybe they'll just make Warcraft films for China only with digital download or straight-to-DVD releases in other regions.

Have you seen Chinese films? They... uh... well, suffice it to say, there are a number of other nations where the movie could be developed into a more palatable format for western audiences.

Thanks for that, I'm going to rent that tonight!

But "yeah" I was going to say, Chinese films have a different sensibility than western films and it's very possible that the Warcraft movie resonates with them differently.

The weird thing is the difference between Japanese films and Chinese films. As an American, I can watch almost anything Japanese with subtitles and 'get it' - the humor, drama, love, etc. are all presented in essentially a western format (okay, confessing your feelings to a significant other is a bigger deal in Japan than it is in America - we just blurt it out; they agonize). Just sit down and watch, say, Amagi Brilliant Park over on Kissanime - it's friggin' brilliant, roving from deep, satisfying belly laughs to soul-crushing sadness over the expanse of a few minutes.

But then you look at something Chinese and... I dunno. It's like we're not even approaching things on the same plane of thought. Culturally, there's just this enormous, almost unbridgaable gap that (even when you sweep aside the obvious crappiness of their production values) prevents me from deriving even a modicum of enjoyment.  

Lol

I suggest you watch some of the old 1960's Godzilla movies. Japanese films have come along way from those days. My personal favorites that hold a special place in my heart are the Lone Wolf and Cub series of films.

My all time favorite Chinese film was 1973's "Enter The Dragon" the production values in that movie aren't too shabby, along with many of the old Jackie Chan movies as well as many others.

There are 100's of low budget films made here that are just as bad as you average Chinese film. I'd imagine they'd be that much worse with shitty language dubbing.

Sovrath

laserit said:

Lol

I suggest you watch some of the old 1960's Godzilla movies. Japanese films have come along way from those days. My personal favorites that hold a special place in my heart are the Lone Wolf and Cub series of films.

My all time favorite Chinese film was 1973's "Enter The Dragon" the production values in that movie aren't too shabby, along with many of the old Jackie Chan movies as well as many others.

There are 100's of low budget films made here that are just as bad as you average Chinese film. I'd imagine they'd be that much worse with shitty language dubbing.

Here is a japanese film I HIGHLY recommend if you can stand really weird movies. It's a vampire film. Of sorts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_(1977_film)

Dreamo84

How can a Warcraft fan say it was a piss poor plot? Ugh... Warcraft existed before wow

josko9

The movie was bad, that's pretty clear, even for WoW fans.

As for how succesful it was? It really wasn't. With 240mil+ cost (production - marketing), they didn't even break even. Probably needs over 500mil+ to start making any profit.

For a sequel? 600-700mil. Blizzard overestimated their fanbase, it's very small in a grand scheme of things. It's not even the most succesful video game adaptation considering how much it cost to make.

If they ever do make Warcraft 2, I can see it being exclusive for China. It really bombed hard in EU and NA. Makes me wonder how many MMOs are more popular than WoW these days in the West.

gervaise1

MikePaladin said:

Glad to know that Chinese aren't snobs and hipsters

So you would prefer to have just 34 "foreign" films a year to watch?  Does mean that every film gets about 1.5 weeks at the box office with only Chinese films to compete with - some of which are very good imo but still.

Heck if there was a list in the US and Warcraft didn't have to compete with Conjuring 2, Now You See Me 2, Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Alice, Finding Dorey  and a host of other titles releasing before and after it would probably have taken more money. Unless didn't get on the list of course.