It can be said that the continuous failures of film adaptations of popular bombastic games have long cast a shadow over the film industry, causing gamers to worry about the future of such projects. Notable examples of this include Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed, which were released in 2016. Fortunately, thanks to the recent success of Warcraft, this film adaptation has broken the curse of the video game film genre, becoming the first successful film adaptation of its kind from previous attempts to date.
Notably, despite a significant drop of over 70% in revenue during its second week of release in North America, Warcraft’s global box office revenue has reached up to $377 million. This revenue is largely attributed to the Chinese market, where there is a strong fan base for the Warcraft franchise as well as the popular online game WoW.
With this level of revenue, Warcraft has officially surpassed Prince of Persia (which previously earned $336 million), making it the highest-grossing video game adaptation film of all time.
In terms of box office performance, Warcraft not only exceeded the earnings of Prince of Persia but also stands out as a successful film project, bringing substantial profits to the production team. According to reports, the production cost of the film was $160 million, and considering the “Hollywood accounting” practices in the film industry, marketing and advertising costs could also be substantial, meaning the total expenditure for the film could reach around $320 million. With a revenue of $377 million, Warcraft has indeed generated significant profits for Blizzard and Legendary Pictures.
With this success of Warcraft, the gaming community can now fully hope for a brighter future for upcoming adaptations of blockbuster films based on video games.
