It’s no secret that there’s been many attempts at adapting video games into films, nor is it uncommon knowledge that most of these endeavours have ended in abject failure. The games have usually had millions of fans behind them, begging for cinematic versions, but the films have often stunk like rotten fish, acting like a betrayal to all those loyal to the consoles and joysticks. This repetitive defeat hasn’t stopped anyone in Hollywood from trying though, and as soon as next year it could all pay off with Warcraft.
Some notable games that were just horrible movies, at least as far as the box office was concerned, include: Super Mario Bros, Doom, Max Payne, Need For Speed, Hitman: Agent 47, Silent Hill: Revelation, Street Fighter, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, DOA:Dead or Alive, and Pixels to name a few. Not only did these films fail to strike a chord with audiences, but critics predictably lambasted them to within an inch of their life. It seems like trying to make a good game to movie adaptation is as challenging as the games themselves. Twenty years ago there may have been valid excuses because the technology to make games come to life as a film probably wasn’t there yet but no such problem exists today. Perhaps the stories don’t transfer well or the right talent hasn’t been on board the projects. Or maybe people simply don’t have an interest in watching these films, because let’s face it; playing a game is much more fun than watching one.
To be fair, not all of them have been as disastrous as the movies previously mentioned. Angelina Jolie carried Lara Croft: Tomb Raider to a $131 million windfall at the box office, while Mila Jovovich did the same with the Resident Evil franchise, although we’re pretty sure the main consumers of those films were hot-blooded males.
Even in 1995, Mortal Kombat was a relative success. However the pile that have managed to keep their head above water is very shallow indeed. The video game film genre now has such a bad reputation that most people just assume the next one will be terrible, and who can blame them. With every one that falls by the wayside it becomes less likely for another to make an impact because audiences have been conditioned to hate these conversions.
Warcraft is another big risk. It’s got a very large budget and has been in the works for a long time, so a sub-par reception would be crushing for the creators. There are a few reason to hope it can buck the general trend though. For one, World of Warcraft is hugely popular, perhaps the most popular game to ever grace the cinema, with over 12 million online subscribers at its peak. So there is definitely a chance of getting people through the doors, which is the first challenge.
The second reason, and probably the most important, is that it has an incredible amount of talent working on it. Director Duncan Jones is a highly acclaimed director with two excellent, albeit smaller budget, films on his resume in Moon (starring Sam Rockwell) and Source Code (starring Jake Gyllenhaal). He was also an avid gamer in the 1990’s, immersed in Azeroth, the land in which Warcraft takes place, playing the original game Orcs and Humans on which this film is largely based. He and producer Stuart Fenegan have vowed to make a good film and avoid letting fans down. Jones spoke to BBC about why he’ll be able to turn things around with Warcraft.
“I think the key is that we actually come from a generation of people who are games players. I’m a film maker who started on the Atari and then went onto the Commodore 64 and the Amiga. So I possibly have a different sensibility to people who didn’t play games growing up.
I’m looking at what makes it appeal to me on a story level and who are the characters I can empathise with. I don’t think it’s necessarily what the source material is – I think it’s about the respect that you treat it with and how you find the core that makes it worth caring about.”
Another big plus for the Legendary Pictures and Blizzard Entertainment produced film is the acting ability that will be on show. A lot of people might turn up simply to watch Australian actor Travis Fimmel, who has risen to stardom playing Ragnar Lothbrok on the hit History Channel series Vikings.
He helped make a watchable show truly compelling with his portrayal of the Norse commander who gained glory and power by raiding the west lands of England.
In Warcraft he will play a similarly powerful role as the human king Anduin Lothar.
The cast also boasts another Australian in Dominic Cooper who will play King Llane Wrynn of Stormwind.
Accompanying them will be the underrated but terrific actor Ben Foster, Toby Kebbel as Durotan (leader of the Orcs), and Anna Galvin as Durotan’s wife Draka.
There’s no denying these are talented performers, so we can only hope the script allows them to show their best. The trailer for the film dropped this week and early responses are mixed, with some positives and negatives. Let’s take a look.
It’s clear we’re not going to get another Lord of the Rings, and we probably never will. But this film looks as though it could at least ably stand up to the more recent Hobbit franchise. By sheer necessity, a lot of this film will be CGI and that’s one factor which may work against it quite a lot. The scenes involving human actors as opposed to the rest of the film already feel jarring, and overall the world looks less than authentic. These are two thing Lord of the Rings excelled in getting right. The dialogue too, is a little cheesy but you can get away with that in fantasy films most of the time. The movie certainly looks to be a feast for the eyes though, with plenty of spectacle and on the surface the story seems interesting and has potential for a lot of tension. It looks as though they’ve packed as much action into the trailer as possible to get people interested and left a lot of the story to be revealed in the actual film. At least we hope that’s the case. Travis Fimmel does look like he’ll be the star and eat up his screen time, he’s a magnet for audiences.
At this point we just have to trust in the passion of those involved in making the film. Only time will tell if it is a success or not. If you want to know more about the game and the premise of the movie, here’s a helpful guide.
What do you think so far?