The Warcraft movie currently sits at $433.5 million worldwide from an estimated production budget of $160 million. Not a flop by any means however, those numbers are not what they appear to be at first glance.
Only $47.2 million of Warcraft's box office gross comes from its domestic North American audience. The remaining 89% comes from international markets, with a whopping $220.8 million coming from China, a country where World of Warcraft is still fairly popular.
As previously covered, film studios earn significantly less from China, where they typically only receive 33% of movie ticket sales, whereas the split in North America is 50/50.
However, while a sequel is up in the air, should Universal and Legendary decided to move forward with a sequel, Duncan Jones seems keen to take another shot at crafting a better adaptation. “
If there were an opportunity for us to make another film in the Warcraft universe I really feel like we did the hard work in the first movie as far as setting the table. I would love to capitalize on 3 and a half years of hard work and be able to have some fun in that world now that I’ve done the hard work. [So] who knows? Maybe I’m just being a masochist.”
Jones is referring to the film's original December 18,2015 release date, which was quickly vacated in 2013, following Disney and Lucasfilm's announcment that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would also be released on that same date. Warcraft was originally moved to March 11, 2016 but in 2015, the film was moved from March to June 2016. Duncan Joneshad completed filming back in May 2014. That meant he had over 2 years to oversee post-production editing and VFX work. While that additional time might seem like a boon, according to Jones, it was a double-edged sword.
“
Trying to make a movie like Warcraft, and trying to do it in a unique way… you get killed by a death of 1,000 cuts. Not just editing cuts. It’s little changes that seem really innocuous. As a filmmaker the only way that I understand how to make a film is holistically. Every choice that I make, whether it is story or character or costume, all works together. When you make a little change it doesn’t seem like a big deal. When you keep making those little changes, especially over three and a half years, suddenly you’re basically spending all of your time trying to work out how to patch up what has been messed around with.”
The Moon and Source Code director definitely has mixed feelings about the project but it would appear that his l(much documented) love of theBlizzard RTS game triumphs over his frustrations with the filmmaking process on blockbuster movies aiming to launch a franchise. “
I’m equally proud and furious about Warcraft. I love it. I spent so much time on it. I put all my heart into trying to make it work. Parts of it, I think, work but it also drives me crazy that I wasn’t able to push through everything that I knew needed to happen in order to make the film I knew it could be.”
Source:
Thirllist via Collider
SYNOPSIS
The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, an unlikely set of heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their families, their people and their home. So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in this epic 3D title in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something.