Blizzard Reveals Warcraft Movie Trailer

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

CGI doesn't look any worse than what you see in these superhero movies, so I don't see the problem there. The armor these guys have does look a bit silly, though. But again, it doesn't look any worse than Thor's or Loki's in the movies. It just seems too "cartoony" with actual humans in them.

Last time I played anything related to Warcraft was over 15 years ago, so I don't know or care if the story makes sense or not. Anyway, I hope it's a success, maybe they'll make a Diablo movie some day.

 

[Rattja]

I had a little bit of hope for a while there, but after seeing the trailer I don't really know anymore..

I am more convinced now than ever that they should just have gone full on CGI like in their games, because what we got here did just not look good.
Don't get me wrong though, the animation here is very good, and I would love it if the whole thing was just that. The problem is that the real actors do not blend into it at all and really stick out as weird and out of place.

Another thing that kinda bugged me is that at no point did I see anything buy humans and orcs going at it in physical combat.
There is no magic that I can see, no shamans, no warlocks, no mages no nothing. I guess one of them could be a paladin but how could you tell?

As for the other races, I get that they are not around because Horde and Alliance is not a thing yet in this one, but still would have been nice to see a tauren or something.

But knowing myself I will still watch it at some point just out of curiosity.

 

[Loethlin]

I see Ragnar is still hot. I'm definitely going to see it, then. For him. And to make fun of CGI orcs.
At least Stormwind still looks like Stormwind.

 

[LetalisK]

Another thing that jarred me was the footman armor. It looks really weird when its "real".

Thats because the Armor the Humans wear is real:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFG1PnUgjps

That's pretty cool. I still don't know why I find the real stuff off putting though.

 

[Pepsik]

Wait so it's not blizzard cinematic, it's an actual movie? Well there goes like most of my hype about blizzard movie, I love blizzard cinematics, this is just no! :-( Here I was thinking, that everyone wanted full movie length blizzard cinematic not an actual movie about warcraft...

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Wait so it's not blizzard cinematic, it's an actual movie? Well there goes like most of my hype about blizzard movie, I love blizzard cinematics, this is just no! :-( Here I was thinking, that everyone wanted full movie length blizzard cinematic not an actual movie about warcraft...

If Capcom and Square made all CG animated movies that are directly about the games (Resident Evil Degeneration/Damnation and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children) why not blizz?

 

[Denamic]

Oh look, a bunch of naysayers and highly critical people just on the first page. What a surprise!

Everyone is so damned negative and cynical these days.

It's the same as always. Like how Fallout 4 is conclusively the single worst game ever made if you go by the steam forums.

 

[RedDeadFred]

If you're going to have that much shitty CGI, at least make all of your characters utilize it so that there's a good amount of consistency. The difference between the CGI orcs and the "real" orcs is noticeable to the point of distraction. Maybe it's the art style they're going for, but IMO, it really doesn't mix well with the live action stuff. I kind of wish they just went all out with the CGI and did something Pixarish. Instead, it's jarring and some of the effects look like they're only a step above an Asylum movie.

As someone who has never really followed the Warcraft story, it doesn't do a very good job of getting me interested.

This anti CGI stance is the most annoying thing that has plauged movie criticism for long time now. I mean no one gave Beowulf a chance because of how "Uncanny Valley it looks"

I mean for goodness' sake can you just appreciate the hard work these CG animators had to go through the make the Orcs look as realistic as possible. I mean jeez they added tiny little hair follicles in their bare skin

Imagine if you were the animator and designer of the Orc models in this movie and everyone is shit talking your work without mercy? I'm sure its not that easy making detailed realistic textured Wacraft Orc for a live action movie.

It's not anti cgi, it's anti, shit cgi. I don't care how the creators feels about criticism. They've made a movie and movies are open to criticism. I don't think they did a very good job, so I'm going to call them out on it By that extension, no, I don't appreciate the hard work they put into it because this is their job and I would expect better. Good for you if you think those visuals are good enough. Enjoy the movie. I personally think it looks terrible and will likely kill the immersion for me.

Also, you bring up Beowulf. It was a decent movie and any complaints I have with it have NOTHING to do with the CGI. It may not have been amazing, but it looked consistent. There was nothing jarring about how it looked IMO. I would much rather have had the Warcraft movie take the same approach. Instead, it looks like a weird mix of cartoons and live action. Sort of like a modern Space Jam.

Again how can you say this is shitty CGI after Mortal Kombat Annihilation? I mean how high standard do you raise for Quality CGI in live action movies?

That movie is 18 years old.... I don't see how that helps your point. My standard is having the quality be good enough so that it isn't jarring when seeing it next to the live action stuff. Part of that comes from quality, part of it comes from art design. IMO, in the case of this trailer, both of those come together to create a very jarring visual style. It wouldn't be shitty CGI if they'd simply gone all out with it (like with Beowulf using that and motion capture only) since it wouldn't have stuck out so blatantly. Like others have said, Blizzard creates excellent CGI cinematics in their games, I wish they'd just gone all out with that instead of keeping the cartoony style and having it clash with the live action stuff.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

maybe a 'humans vers orc's' movie was the only way to keep Metzen out of the new expansion?
i remember someone saying 'thank god' that someone must have shoved Metzen in a cupbord with a supply of of dew and a thrall bodypillow this expansion (talking about Legion) because it wasnt just about orcs this time.

now, while the difference between the orcs and the humans is jarring, and i do have to agree, that it would have been better to just use CGI for everything (and yeah, i actualy liked beowulf for doing that)... the CGI itself does not bother me. its the difference between the real worlds actors and the CGI that is jarring.
its likely going to be just humans and orcs though...seems thats what blizzard had/have been going towards for the last couple of expacs (to me at least, it feels like that) having an elf-centric (ie the demon hunters) might give those of us suffering from orc-overexposure a breathing space.i think i will watch it for free(ish) when it hits sky or DvD myself.... unless someone who has seen it allready conferms its not *just* orcs and humans....i can see that by booting up warcraft3 after all... i want to see how they handle the night/blood elfs and the dwarfs and gnomes...but they probabl cant afford em, cause they spent all the CPUcycles on the dam orcs

Say what you will about Metzen, but he is a big part of what drove the design of various Blizzard games, which in turn let to their success. I got into Starcraft mostly because of seeing his work in the game manual that a friend lend me for example.

So I think it's a good thing going for the film that he's involved with it at least. I just wish they'd actually done what they are good at and used those designs and the CGI throughout the entire thing while also delivering the original storyline. Ah well, I'll guess we'll see...

After I've read the reviews that is.

 

[Silverbane7]

yeah, he's a big part...of making lots of stuff about the orcs. and FOR the orcs...
and this i do agree with you, they should have done the thing whole CGI. because then it would look like BOTH sides of the story were from world of warcaft.
right now it looks like they took the orcs and dumped em into a game of thrones movie that stole its armour from some very strong cosplayers (you know the ones, they have the real chainmail and plate on. or the guys that spend days sweating while wearing the real thing for re-enactments. the guys that realy CAN wear the old original stuff)

as for getting into warcraft....i was given the 10day trial about a month or two after vanilla (might have been 6months, i cant remember it exactly) and that was all it took to get me to play.
maybe i just spent too many years stairing at those man mountain humans when i started, that i cant reconsile their scrawny-arse (and neck'ed) movie counterparts XD

 

[Hawki]

For those saying this should be entirely CGI, I have five words for you:

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Want elaboration?

-Based on a popular game series.

-Fully computer animated

-Insanely expensive to make

-Bombed at the box office, and sent Square Pictures the way of the dodo

A Warcraft CGI film automatically covers the first two points, and if it was up to Blizzard's usual standards in their cinematics, that would cover point 3 as well. And while you can level all sorts of individual problems with Spirits Within, it actually stands as perhaps the highest rated movie based on a game out there (44%RT)

So, coupled with that fourth point, and the stigma coupled with animation in the West (idea it's for children), coupled with the fact that the film is set to feature all manner of nastiness, and that it's made to be accessible for the general audience, was anyone really expecting a full CGI movie?

And on the subject, CGI looks fine to me. Film looks a bit generic (and I say this as a fan of Warcraft), but I'm expecting this to be at least on the level of Prince of Persia (a film I actually like, and hold as the gold standard of videogame movies right now, sad as that might be).

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

If you're going to have that much shitty CGI, at least make all of your characters utilize it so that there's a good amount of consistency. The difference between the CGI orcs and the "real" orcs is noticeable to the point of distraction. Maybe it's the art style they're going for, but IMO, it really doesn't mix well with the live action stuff. I kind of wish they just went all out with the CGI and did something Pixarish. Instead, it's jarring and some of the effects look like they're only a step above an Asylum movie.

As someone who has never really followed the Warcraft story, it doesn't do a very good job of getting me interested.

This anti CGI stance is the most annoying thing that has plauged movie criticism for long time now. I mean no one gave Beowulf a chance because of how "Uncanny Valley it looks"

I mean for goodness' sake can you just appreciate the hard work these CG animators had to go through the make the Orcs look as realistic as possible. I mean jeez they added tiny little hair follicles in their bare skin

Imagine if you were the animator and designer of the Orc models in this movie and everyone is shit talking your work without mercy? I'm sure its not that easy making detailed realistic textured Wacraft Orc for a live action movie.

It's not anti cgi, it's anti, shit cgi. I don't care how the creators feels about criticism. They've made a movie and movies are open to criticism. I don't think they did a very good job, so I'm going to call them out on it By that extension, no, I don't appreciate the hard work they put into it because this is their job and I would expect better. Good for you if you think those visuals are good enough. Enjoy the movie. I personally think it looks terrible and will likely kill the immersion for me.

Also, you bring up Beowulf. It was a decent movie and any complaints I have with it have NOTHING to do with the CGI. It may not have been amazing, but it looked consistent. There was nothing jarring about how it looked IMO. I would much rather have had the Warcraft movie take the same approach. Instead, it looks like a weird mix of cartoons and live action. Sort of like a modern Space Jam.

Again how can you say this is shitty CGI after Mortal Kombat Annihilation? I mean how high standard do you raise for Quality CGI in live action movies?

That movie is 18 years old.... I don't see how that helps your point. My standard is having the quality be good enough so that it isn't jarring when seeing it next to the live action stuff. Part of that comes from quality, part of it comes from art design. IMO, in the case of this trailer, both of those come together to create a very jarring visual style. It wouldn't be shitty CGI if they'd simply gone all out with it (like with Beowulf using that and motion capture only) since it wouldn't have stuck out so blatantly. Like others have said, Blizzard creates excellent CGI cinematics in their games, I wish they'd just gone all out with that instead of keeping the cartoony style and having it clash with the live action stuff.

It helps my point because to me CGI already peaked in the 90s and early 2000s if we site the best examples. I mean the CG quality on the Dinosaurs in the first 2 Jurassic Park movies are surprisingly top notch and holds up today and of course CGI is still improving. Poor CGI is people who barely put in effort case in point the dragon transformation in the Mortal Kombat movie.

To use another modern example in Guardians of the Galaxy did you find the CGI'd Thanos next to the live action main villain jarring?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxwM-fzcYRg

And again what about the scenes with Hulk and Black Widow?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGuMr4dMtCk

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

For those saying this should be entirely CGI, I have five words for you:

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Want elaboration?

-Based on a popular game series.

-Fully computer animated

-Insanely expensive to make

-Bombed at the box office, and sent Square Pictures the way of the dodo

A Warcraft CGI film automatically covers the first two points, and if it was up to Blizzard's usual standards in their cinematics, that would cover point 3 as well. And while you can level all sorts of individual problems with Spirits Within, it actually stands as perhaps the highest rated movie based on a game out there (44%RT)

So, coupled with that fourth point, and the stigma coupled with animation in the West (idea it's for children), coupled with the fact that the film is set to feature all manner of nastiness, and that it's made to be accessible for the general audience, was anyone really expecting a full CGI movie?

And on the subject, CGI looks fine to me. Film looks a bit generic (and I say this as a fan of Warcraft), but I'm expecting this to be at least on the level of Prince of Persia (a film I actually like, and hold as the gold standard of videogame movies right now, sad as that might be).

Personally I liked at least the first 2 live action Resident Evil movies because though different they are at least faithful to the old games. The 1st movie had the Licker from RE2 and the second movie had Nemesis.

Also I still think animation for adults in movies can still work and overcome the stigma if it was marketed correctly.

 

[RedDeadFred]

If you're going to have that much shitty CGI, at least make all of your characters utilize it so that there's a good amount of consistency. The difference between the CGI orcs and the "real" orcs is noticeable to the point of distraction. Maybe it's the art style they're going for, but IMO, it really doesn't mix well with the live action stuff. I kind of wish they just went all out with the CGI and did something Pixarish. Instead, it's jarring and some of the effects look like they're only a step above an Asylum movie.

As someone who has never really followed the Warcraft story, it doesn't do a very good job of getting me interested.

This anti CGI stance is the most annoying thing that has plauged movie criticism for long time now. I mean no one gave Beowulf a chance because of how "Uncanny Valley it looks"

I mean for goodness' sake can you just appreciate the hard work these CG animators had to go through the make the Orcs look as realistic as possible. I mean jeez they added tiny little hair follicles in their bare skin

Imagine if you were the animator and designer of the Orc models in this movie and everyone is shit talking your work without mercy? I'm sure its not that easy making detailed realistic textured Wacraft Orc for a live action movie.

It's not anti cgi, it's anti, shit cgi. I don't care how the creators feels about criticism. They've made a movie and movies are open to criticism. I don't think they did a very good job, so I'm going to call them out on it By that extension, no, I don't appreciate the hard work they put into it because this is their job and I would expect better. Good for you if you think those visuals are good enough. Enjoy the movie. I personally think it looks terrible and will likely kill the immersion for me.

Also, you bring up Beowulf. It was a decent movie and any complaints I have with it have NOTHING to do with the CGI. It may not have been amazing, but it looked consistent. There was nothing jarring about how it looked IMO. I would much rather have had the Warcraft movie take the same approach. Instead, it looks like a weird mix of cartoons and live action. Sort of like a modern Space Jam.

Again how can you say this is shitty CGI after Mortal Kombat Annihilation? I mean how high standard do you raise for Quality CGI in live action movies?

That movie is 18 years old.... I don't see how that helps your point. My standard is having the quality be good enough so that it isn't jarring when seeing it next to the live action stuff. Part of that comes from quality, part of it comes from art design. IMO, in the case of this trailer, both of those come together to create a very jarring visual style. It wouldn't be shitty CGI if they'd simply gone all out with it (like with Beowulf using that and motion capture only) since it wouldn't have stuck out so blatantly. Like others have said, Blizzard creates excellent CGI cinematics in their games, I wish they'd just gone all out with that instead of keeping the cartoony style and having it clash with the live action stuff.

It helps my point because to me CGI already peaked in the 90s and early 2000s if we site the best examples. I mean the CG quality on the Dinosaurs in the first 2 Jurassic Park movies are surprisingly top notch and holds up today and of course CGI is still improving. Poor CGI is people who barely put in effort case in point the dragon transformation in the Mortal Kombat movie.

To use another modern example in Guardians of the Galaxy did you find the CGI'd Thanos next to the live action main villain jarring?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxwM-fzcYRg

And again what about the scenes with Hulk and Black Widow?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGuMr4dMtCk

I completely disagree with CGI peaking in the early 2000s and I'd say that the examples you are showing are of much better quality than of that shown in this trailer. The Hulk in particular has much finer detail and has an art style that doesn't clash with the real actors. Also, citing the first two Jurassic Park movies doesn't exactly help your position IMO. I can't really comment on the second one since it's been so long since I've watched it, but in the case of the first, the vast majority of the effects were practical. Back then, the CGI effects that were used, were top notch for the time so the few times where they relied solely on it weren't jarring at all. Nowadays, we've seen better and the few scenes which completely utilize CGI don't hold up quite as well (the huge brachiosaurus are particularly noticeable).

Honestly, it's not even that the CGI itself is bad, it's just bad for the style they're going with. I wouldn't need it to look more convincing if the entire movie was computer animated.

I'm not against CGI. I think it can be used to spectacular effect, especially when combined with excellent motion capture performance (Andy Serkis as both Gollum and Caesar).

Fortunately, the visuals from an initial trailer like this are rarely representative of the final product. Some of the visuals will likely be improved. The main thing I hope they fix aren't actually the orcs (they look fine) but rather the settings themselves. They are way too lacking in detail and sort of look like the characters are existing in some kind of plastic world.

 

[Silverbane7]

spirits within might have done better, if everyone (or at least, everyone that knows the name 'final fantasy') had not been expecting it to be final fantasy7 (ie, Advent children)

but it seems that, because of so many bad game-world movies, we now sort of expect them to bomb.
even granted that a fair bit of em were only made, so they could bomb out at the box office and then they could collect on the tax returns (which is such a waste, because a lot of the films actualy are not so bad, if you take em with ether a pinch of salt or a bag of sugar lol)

another problem is the 'its animated, its for kids' issue.
i have found 18rated anime stuff in the kids section at least 3 times in my local charity stores (thrift shops to you americans)
overfiend and similar.
there is no way in the 3 hells those are for kids, but because its anime, and cartoons, they throw it in there.
first time i found it, i bought it for a friend. but i also showed them the nice red '18' rated circle on the box and told em that, yes, its a cartoon but it sure ain't pokemon!
its like MMO games. warcraft, guild wars and even everquest. the amount of times i have told em 'if its not sealed, and isnt a collectors version with extra, non game stuff, you arent supposed to sell em' but they just look at me like im talking binary or something.

i guess the thing to do now, is wait to see how many players (current and ex) go to see it, just to say they saw it, or *because* its warcraft.
its just a shame that they are so obsessive with their box office smash hits, they dont take into account the dvd sales and the tv ect rights as well. if it dont make em a fortune on the first week, they act like its the end of the world for them.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

It seems passé to complain about the mix of CGI and live action at this point, but it really is that jarring. Obviously there was a conscious effort to bring the bright, blocky texture style of Blizzard cutscenes into the movie as a nod to the source material, but that doesn't sit well alongside live footage. My brain simultaneously interprets the CGI parts as not being good enough to resemble reality, while feeling the live shots are not doing a good enough job of suspending disbelief to create a proper fantasy feel.

Also the choice of storyline just makes me feel kind of sad, because it takes me back to the days when Warcraft lore was much more captivating, could be followed without a flow chart, and felt like a real fantasy game instead of a Disney theme park where just about everyone is actually a goodie. Back when the Orcs were actual warlike monsters instead of the misunderstood treehuggers that Metzen retconned them into. This could have been a good movie if they'd gone back to that original clash between the two civilisations and jettisoned all the other baggage, but I see they've carried over the 'fantasy refugee' storyline and the Thrall as Jesus crap. Le sigh.

 

[Evonisia]

Looks like mindless, dumb fun. Hopefully they don't try and push the story too hard to get in the way of that.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

The orc lady doesn't look orky enuff. Other than that, looks like it could be fun.

 

[sagitel]

CGI doesn't look any worse than what you see in these superhero movies, so I don't see the problem there. The armor these guys have does look a bit silly, though. But again, it doesn't look any worse than Thor's or Loki's in the movies. It just seems too "cartoony" with actual humans in them.

Last time I played anything related to Warcraft was over 15 years ago, so I don't know or care if the story makes sense or not. Anyway, I hope it's a success, maybe they'll make a Diablo movie some day.

are you serious? the big guy( the guy in the vikings play him) is wearing plated armor made for a warrior to fight huge barbaric orcs and the armor looks like a cosplayer made it. at least loki had the excuse of saying it was ceremonial, and he wasnt a big warrior either but this is unacceptable. if i am more likely to believe a cosplayer's armor is made of metal than your shitty props, you are doing something wrong

OT: the plot is gonna be garbage, the characters will be stupid, but if the movie has good action scenes and wars that i came to expect from warcraft (especially from the war of the ancients books), if its heroic and big and looks cool while being realistic, ill forget all of them and watch the movie. but right now im not hopeful

 

[Imre Csete]

The orc lady doesn't look orky enuff. Other than that, looks like it could be fun.

I think she's supposed to be the half-orc assassin. Cue silly Hollywood romance subplot.