Warcraft Director: ‘No One Really Knows’ if Warcraft 2 Will Happen
Warcraft director Duncan Jones says despite the film’s great performance overseas, no one is quite sure if a sequel will happen.
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Director Duncan Jones doesn’t know if Warcraft 2 will ever happen. Legendary looked to bring the popular MMORPG to the big screen in 2016. Thanks to the game’s huge fanbase, there was hope that the millions of players would generate a big box office haul. The movie wound up getting largely negative reviews as Warcraft struggled to give the characters real depth while introducing the massive world the potential franchise would have to offer.
Despite the critics not liking it, Warcraft still found an audience, albeit one largely overseas. The first film made less than $50 million domestically, but China turned out in big numbers to see it, inflating the international box office to nearly $390M. For a movie that cost $160M to make not including marketing, Legendary likely didn’t turn a profit. That may just be why the chances of a sequel don’t appear to be too great.
Related: Duncan Jones Teases Possible Warcraft 2 Story
JoBlo spoke to Duncan Jones as part of his promotional tour for Netflix’s Mute and discussed the chances of a sequel then. Pointing to the divide between critics and fans and the first film’s great international performance, Jones still sees some merit to doing a sequel. He is still interested in directing a sequel should the studio come calling, but the chances of that happening are very much up in the air right now.
I would love to and it’s such a weird one, Warcraft. I mean, I think it has the highest divergency between fan ratings and critical ratings of any movie. But it really did. It has this really weird split, and then obviously, the financial side in the US was not what it needed to be, but it did do great internationally. So it’s such a unique case. It’s a truly unique case. No one really knows why or if a sequel will get made at this point. And I think no one is kind of ready to pull the trigger one way or the other. One of the things you’ll probably notice or be aware of with the studios is, it’s very easy to say no to things. It’s very hard to say yes because that’s when you get fired. You don’t get fired for saying no. You get fired to saying yes. And with a Warcraft sequel, no one wants to pull the trigger.
So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. Maybe at some point, someone will say, “You know what? It made so much money in China. Let’s just make it.” And assume that the international is what’s gonna make it successful, but I’m still waiting. I’m hoping they do it.
Its been nearly two years since Warcraft hit theaters, so the lack of sequel talk is hardly encouraging. Jones is clearly passionate about the lore, and he’s previously outlined where he would take a sequel. A sequel would have the ability to really dive into the rich world after Warcraft spent so much time doing the legwork to establish the different locations and characters. It unfortunately doesn’t sound as though a sequel is definitely on the way, and these latest comments by Jones largely fall in line with how he’s continued to talk about the project since it hit theaters.
As noted by Jones, it was largely the Chinese box office that helped bring Warcraft closer to being a success. It grossed almost $150M in the first four days there, and sparked talk that if the sequel did happen, it could skip U.S. theaters altogether. That would certainly help shrink the marketing budget if they just catered to the bigger international markets. Legendary could always come back to that idea if talk of Warcraft 2 picks up again. But who knows, maybe after working with Netflix, Jones could help bring the World of Warcraft to the small screen next.
MORE: Director’s Cut of Warcraft Will Never Happen
Warcraft 2 is currently not in development.
Source: JoBlo
Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.
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