Duncan Jones' Warcraft - Part 3

[Marvolo]

A director's cut is impossible says Duncan Jones.

Duncan Jones regarding the imperfections of WARCRAFT:

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. Trust me, if anyone is frustrated about the pacing of the film and how that turned out, it's me. It's not because I didn't know what was happening, but as I said, death of 1,000 cuts.

On the possibility of a director's cut:

A lot of people ask me, "When is the director's cut coming out?" There will never be a director's cut. With a film like this, where there are so many visual effects, every concession that you make you lose those shots. They cease to exist because the effects work never gets done. Some of it's not even at that stage. You go through a writing stage right up to the deadline of shooting the thing. [You lose] ideas in the writing process. Then sets change for whatever reason and notes come in. You're changing things around a three-and-a-half-year process. You get these little changes which are constantly course-correcting you. So there is no possibility of there ever being a director's cut. It's purely in my head.

http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/dun...out-warcraft-a-directors-cut-and-a-sequel-511

Thats a damn shame. There is a good film somewhere and Jones did a lobotomy on it and there's no bringing it back.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah but it would be cost prohibitive because of all the unfinished FX and what not.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

“Warcraft 2” Could Skip US Cinemas Altogether

By
Garth Franklin -

Tuesday, August 30th 2016 3:54 am
http://cdn2.darkhorizons.com/wp-con...rcraft-2-could-skip-us-cinemas-altogether.jpg

In years past there’s been examples of films from “Pacific Rim” to “The Adventures of Tintin” that have been ‘saved’ by international box-office returns so robust that they negate the harmful impact of a soft domestic bow.
When Duncan Jones’ $160 million “Warcraft” film opened and made a grand total of $47 million at the domestic box office, the talk of an obvious flop was there – at least until the international numbers came in. Not only did the film do well in many overseas territories, in China alone it pulled in $220.8 million. To date it holds the record for the biggest disparity between domestic and foreign receipts of any studio film with only 10.9% of its $433 million worldwide box-office coming from the United States.
The Chinese success has effectively greenlit a sequel and now it has been suggested that the new film could be the first English-language movie from an American production company that will get a theatrical release in China and not the Unitied States.
Speaking with The Wrap, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan partner Sky Moore spoke about U.S.-China co-production deals and revealed the possibility of making the follow-up film a much more Chinese production: “Who says it needs to have American actors? 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].”
Moore says as the Chinese market continues to grow, people should “expect more remakes in China of movies that did well there and not-so-well here. It’s a big enough market.”
“Warcraft” had several advantages in its favor – from Legendary’s acquisition by China’s Dalian Wanda Group which is also China’s largest movie theater operator, to the film getting a massive social media marketing push, to the fact that the country is estimated to be home to about half the world’s ‘World of Warcraft’ players which gives it a built-in fanbase.
No word on when a “Warcraft” sequel might go into production at this point.

You know what is funny about Warcraft at the Chinese box office? It died. It opened huge and then just died. 220m was actually terrible considering how it opened.

 

[Victarion]

47 million. Geez. Should they have waited and launched this during the summer?

 

[Doctor Jones]

Or they should have made a better movie that didn't cost so damn much.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

You know what is funny about Warcraft at the Chinese box office? It died. It opened huge and then just died. 220m was actually terrible considering how it opened.

Why do so many pundits ignore it's awful legs in China? It's obvious that the word of mouth was not good in China. The studio would be stupid to make a sequel based solely on China's awful run after it's massive 5 day opening.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

47 million. Geez. Should they have waited and launched this during the summer?

Didn't it come out in the summer?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Why do so many pundits ignore it's awful legs in China? It's obvious that the word of mouth was not good in China. The studio would be stupid to make a sequel based solely on China's awful run after it's massive 5 day opening.

Two reasons I'd say. They like staying on the good side of the studios and because everyone wants to play up China. Also so many of these sites wrote up the success early and seem don't want to mention how wrong they were.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Two reasons I'd say. They like staying on the good side of the studios and because everyone wants to play up China. Also so many of these sites wrote up the success early and seem don't want to mention how wrong they were.

I think your 3rd point is the best one. They have played up China supposedly saving the film so much that they just don't want to admit that their assessment was incorrect, that they spoke too soon.

And this is not like Pacific Rim which at the very least hit the 100mil mark here in the states and had decent reviews. This is a film that made under 50mil here in North America and died in China after out opening Furious 7 which ended with 380+mil.

I think a sequel would be a lesser version of the Alice: Through the Looking Glass and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows debacles that we had this year.

 

[OutOfBoose]

I still believe they needed to listen to Raimi and make a movie about one side first. But what's done is done. WC cinematic universe is dead.

 

[Vartha]

Picked up the Warcraft Bluray/Dvd steelbook at Walmart

 

[Vartha]

Who's playing World of Warcraft?

 

[The Big G]

Who's playing World of Warcraft?

This guy!

 

[Vartha]

I'm still deciding whether or not to download the game and extras lol

 

[dude stannis]

The movie was entertaining in a low brow manner, I'm surprised it's selling out at JB Hi Fi (Australian Best Buy).

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I'm still deciding whether or not to download the game and extras lol

The base game is free if I remember correctly.
I can't tell what could be the game experience for a fresh and new player ( especially if you never played MMORPG before ) because veteran players tends to rush to max level ASAP so the starting zones may feel empty ( could be wrong though ).
Anyways, the game was/is pleasant, the zones are well crafted and have their own feeling ( some dry and barren, some luxurious, some ethereal and so on ).

 

[Vartha]

The base game is free if I remember correctly.
I can't tell what could be the game experience for a fresh and new player ( especially if you never played MMORPG before ) because veteran players tends to rush to max level ASAP so the starting zones may feel empty ( could be wrong though ).
Anyways, the game was/is pleasant, the zones are well crafted and have their own feeling ( some dry and barren, some luxurious, some ethereal and so on ).

Yeah, I've played a few, I just don't have internet at home and not sure it'd be worth it to start it for a free month and not be able to play later lol

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The best CinemaSins in a long time. They nailed it really, especially by calling this film, "aggressively annoying".

 

[marcvader]

So I had nothing better to do today and finally got around to seeing it on HBO. I have to admit I was somewhat entertained and would have liked to have seen where Duncan Jones was going with it. This certainly qualifies for guilty pleasure for me. Liked the art design overall.

 

[dark_b]

http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/duncan-jones-unique-path-from-smurfs-stop-motion-to-blockbuster-auteur

What was the hardest scene you ever had to shoot (or write)?
Warcraft was a political minefield as far as filmmaking goes. And I think a lot of the rewriting in that, over the course of making the movie was really, really difficult and at times disheartening. Just being forced to make changes and compromises just due to the politics and the nature of that film. So, that was a real heart-wrencher. But I've learned a lot and I've become more mature and able to deal with those kinds of situations because I've been through it now. But at the time, that felt pretty traumatic.
It was mainly studio politics. You know, Legendary had an incredibly turbulent period while we were making Warcraft. They were associated with Warner Bros. They left Warner Bros. and joined Universal. They were sold to Wanda, this Chinese conglomerate. They lost or replaced a number of their producing staff halfway through our movie.
And at the same time as all of that, we were also working with Blizzard, who understandably were very careful about what happened with the movie because their bread and butter was the game Warcraft, which was bringing in a billion dollars a year for them. So, whatever we did with the movie was likely to be small potatoes compared to how important the game was for them. So it was really a very active political landscape.
I think I learned a lot from that experience and if I ever put myself in that situation again, even though I went into it eyes open, I'm a lot wiser now.

 

[Marvolo]

Well that explains why the film is in the condition it's in.

 

[TheVileOne]

I wonder what changes he was forced to make due to politics. I did interview Jones before the film came out, and he did go on talking about how he made Durotan's wife a more significant character in the film, and she originally wasn't going to be in it as much. It seems like before it came out he was willing to talk about how much creative control he had over the film and made it seem like he had a lot.

IMHO the film is very messy, but not just in terms of editing. Bad acting and casting choices all around.

I will say a few things. While watching the film, the Alliance is downright virtuous and innocuous compared to the Horde. The Horde are pretty much made out to be an evil invading army who rape and pillage the land. The Alliance are not hateful at all, and the queen even gently treats Garona as a friend and they try to recruit her. IMHO, it just didn't feel realistic if they were trying to make a more evenhanded war film. The Horde very much came off as bloodthirsty, evil, horrible bad guys OTHER than Durotan and his friends.

The trailers make it look like the Alliance is going to team up with Durotan and his tribe to fight against Gul'dan but that never really happens. The one human bad guy is because he was possessed by a demon.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

He going to blame the studio for Mute as well?

 

[marcvader]

Saw Mute last night. Starting to think Moon was a fluke.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Less fluke, more all about how good Rockwell is in it. Starting to feel like he carries a very meh film, too something rather entertaining.