A few of the major movie sites around the Internet have published advanced reviews forWarcraft, which do not paint it in a favorable light. Most call it a movie made for gamers only, and some have hinted at a big summerflop. While we don’t know how the movie will fare on U.S. soil, as it won’t open until June 10, the movie is making a killing with an impressive $16.3M debut through Friday in International markets.
Directed by the lateDavid Bowie’s sonDuncan Jones,Warcraftarrives from Legendary and Universal Pictures as yet another video game adaptation in a market that has not been favorable to them. The movie took in $9.3M on Thursday, invading a total of 20 markets. The movie is currently #1 at the foreign box office in 19 of those, defying expectations all around. According to Deadline, the movie is looking at a weekend cume of $30M. Over the next two months,Warcraftwill continue to spread throughout the globe, with 45 more markets to hit.
The biggest market forWarcraftis expected to be China, a major gaming hub. Thebattlefueled movie has already fared quite well in Russia and Germany. In Russia, this Azeroth setfantasy adventurehas taken in a two-day total of $4.9 million, owning 65% percent of the market share. German audiences have already ponied up $3.5 million with a 45% share of the market. This comes after the movie scored the biggest opening day of 2016 in that country.
Thevideo game adaptationis attracting fans of the game right out of the gate, with the overwhelming majority of audience members familiar with the title. The movie hasn’t fared quite so well in France, though, where it has pulled in $2.2 million after mid-level reviews from critics. Viewers have been much more kind, awarding it a rather high 4.4 out of 5 stars. The movie went onto open #1 in Sweden, where it took in $539 thousand on Friday. This was Universal’s third biggest opening in the country behindFifty Shades of GreyandFurious 7. Other countries where it opened #1 include Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Latvia, Lebanon, Middle East, Norway, Pakistan, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand. Only in the Philippines did it open at #2.
TheWarcraft moviestarsTravis Fimmel,Dominic Cooper,Ben Foster,Paula Patton,Toby Kebbell,Ben Schnetzer,Robert KazinskyandDaniel Wu. This action epic is directed byDuncan Jonesfrom a script he co-wrote withCharles Leavitt.Warcraftis a Legendary Pictures, Blizzard Entertainment and Atlas Entertainment production.Warcraftis produced byCharles Roven,Thomas Tull,Jon Jashni,Alex GartnerandStuart Fenegan.Jillian Share,Brent O’Connor,Michael MorhaimeandPaul Samsserve as executive producers.Rob Pardo,Chris Metzen,Nick CarpenterandRebecca Steel Rovenco-produce.Warcraftwill go up against a pair of sequels on June 10, Lionsgate’sNow You See Me 2and Warner Bros.‘The Conjuring 2. We’ll have to wait two more weeks to see how it fares in the states.
