‘Warcraft 2’ Movie Release Date Cast Beyond 2017? Duncan Jones Starts Filming, But It’s Not A ‘World Of Warcraft’ Sequel Film As Robert Kazinsky Desires
The Warcraft 2 movie release date is up in the air, especially now that Warcraft director Duncan Jones will be busy in 2017 working on a project completely unrelated to a Warcraft sequel or any other World Of Warcraft update. Actor Robert Kazinsky is hopeful that the studios will green light the Warcraft 2 film, but he is also casting hope for other ideas like a Warcraft TV show.
Last month’s Warcraft Blu-Ray release date triggered renewed interest in the possibility of a Warcraft 2 movie. The hard part is proving that the video games formula is worth the risk of investment. After all, the first Warcraft movie basically bombed out in America with only in $47 million in box office sales based upon a $160 million budget. Ratchet And Clank did even worse with only $8.8 million, although the kid-friendly The Angry Birds Movie did take home $347 million with only a $73 million budget.
The good news is that the Warcraft film did very well globally, especially in China. Overall, the Warcraft movie sales generated $433 million based upon a $160 million budget. Since $220 million of that revenue, or almost half, was from China alone, there has been some speculation that the Warcraft 2 sequel could be cast as a China-focused production, with English-speaking fans being a second priority.
IN A RELATED REPORT BY THE INQUISITR
‘World Of Warcraft’ Audio Drama Planned By Blizzard To (Re-)Introduce Gul’dan’s History Pre-‘Legion’
Warcraft 2 China Only?
This rumor was given more flesh when Sky Moore, who oversees US-China co-production deals, told the Wrap the Warcraft sequel could target the Chinese market first.
“Who says it needs to have American actors?” stated Moore. “I would suspect that the sequel would be more China-centric. It’s very possible it wouldn’t be released here [in the United States].”
This move makes sense since about half of the world’s World Of Warcraft players reside in China. Legendary Pictures was also recently taken over by the Chinese Dalia Wanda group.
A World Of Warcraft Movie Trilogy Is Definitely Way Over The Horizon
WoW fans have made it quite clear that they would love to see a World Of Warcraft movie, since many players identify with their favorite World Of Warcraft characters. However, Duncan Jones has also made it clear in the past that he planned on making a full Warcraft trilogy, including a Warcraft 3 movie.
“I know that my job in this first film is to establish certain characters, places, and culture while telling a story that a broad audience can be excited by!” Jones explained. “Hopefully, if I have done my job right, people will want to know and see more! There is certainly plenty more to tell!”
More recently, Jones told Thrillist that he would love to film the Warcraft 2 movie sequel if given the chance.
“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 three 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. “
The Warcraft 2 Movie Release Date Blues.
Last week, Jones started filming Mute, a Blade Runner-esque Sci-Fi movie that will be released on the Netflix streaming service in 2017. That means if the Warcraft 2 movie is greenlit, at least for the time being Jones will be quite busy, and we may have to wait beyond 2017 before the Warcraft 2 movie release date is officially confirmed.
Quiet on the set! #MUTE, a Netflix Original Film starring Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd, and Justin Theroux, has started shooting. https://t.co/J5JWsetZCq
— Netflix (@netflix) October 12, 2016
Unfortunately, there’s been no hint from any sources on whether or not this happy event may occur, even from some of the actors. If the Warcraft director is busy with other projects is it possible that the studios will find someone else for the job? Considering that it’s already been stated the Warcraft sequel may not have any American actors, it’s possible even the new director could be Chinese, although that idea is pure speculation.
Rob Kazinsky Wants A Warcraft TV Show
Orgrim Doomhammer was cast for Kazinsky, an avid World of Warcraft player in his own right. He admits to playing 18 hour days and probably has spent more than an entire year of real world time inside the game. So, needless to say, he would really want more Warcraft sequels to come out, but he also hinted at options for a Warcraft TV show.
“If you know the game, you know where we’re headed,” Kazinsky said. “There is a storyline to follow, and my character just gets better and better. We started with the foundation in this film. Do the stories get better? Yes, they do. And I think the story tells the future of Kil’jaeden, Illidan, Arthas and even the Defias Brotherhood. It lays a scope and possibility for us to start working on a universe. We could have a TV show spin-off just following the Defias Brotherhood. We could have major movies. The story and lore was there in the game.”
To put things into perspective, Kazinsky made these comments months before the first Warcraft release date in 2016. Fast forward to October and Kazinsky is still talking about his hardcore WoW raids, but he’s also pining for the chance to pick up the Doomhammer again. During an interview with PCGamesN, the Warcraft cast actor clearly states that there’s no official word on a Warcraft sequel, but he also believes there’s a real possibility depending on how the Warcraft Blu-Ray, DVD, and merchandise does in global sales.
“I think that really very much depends on… like Pacific Rim, which also didn’t gross huge numbers worldwide but developed a huge following afterwards, and grossed huge on DVD sales and merchandising,” Kazinsky explained. “If we can carry on with that, then that will open ourselves up to a sequel where we can really begin to tell the stories that everyone’s looking for. And I don’t know if that’s going to happen, I really hope it’s going to happen because with everybody who cares so much about the product, about Warcraft in general, I think it would be a real shame if we weren’t able to tell the story that made us all love it in the first place.”
Warcraft 3 Movie Is ‘Where Everyone Wants To Get To’
It’s not surprising that Robert Kazinsky name-dropped Pacific Rim as an example, since Pacific Rim 2 is scheduled for an August, 2017, release date. Warcraft 3 is still first in his mind, with the actor admitting he’d “love” to see a Warcraft 2 movie sequel if only to do justice to the series as a whole.
“I think if we want to do the first film justice we need to tell the whole story. The second and third films, the great wars, the sacking of Stormwind and seeing Thrall become, y’know, Thrall. I think that that would be something we should do and we need to do.”
Moreover, Kazinsky seems to see a Warcraft 3 movie as a sort of end goal. He compares the first Warcraft film to Star Wars: A New Hope, since it established the Star Wars world and then sequels built greatly upon the premise.
“We made a solid film, I think. We made a really good starting point for a universe, and the next films, two and three, are the ones that can expand on that world-building movie that we’ve made,” he said. “We will go on in the second and third films, if we get to make them, to make even greater stories and to really expand upon that world until we reach the point where everyone wants to get to, which is Frozen Throne.”
In the end, the actor believes the first Warcraft movie was not a 10/10 film, but he says they “made a great world-building movie and if people could embrace that fact they’d recognize that here’s a good movie that allows us to tell great stories within the next four or five years.” It could also be argued that a World Of Warcraft movie is what everyone really wanted, but in the meantime, let’s just hope a Warcraft 2 movie release date is officially confirmed in 2017.
[Featured Image by Blizzard Entertainment]
