I feel like this isn't one I really should be explaining. Have you ever heard of the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie? I'm technically committing an excommunicable offense (yes, excommunicable isn't actually a word, but language is fluid so deal with it) by even mentioning that travesty, but my hope is that you'll first comprehend the weight of my decision to bring up Satan's Short Film, infer that my explicitly telling that that monstrosity is essentially a sign of the End Times, and then realize the correlation between Super Mario Bros. and World of Warcraft (they're both video games).
Sure, correlation isn't causation. It'd be totally irrational to think that just because one video game movie was an aberration, all video game movies will be that same! That's why I take great pride in Street Fighter from 1994 starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (12% on Rotten Tomatoes), Mortal Kombat and the obviously necessary sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (33% and 3%, respectively), Jason Statham's lost masterpiece In The Name of The King (4% on Rotten Tomatoes), and everybody's favorite: Tron Legacy. I'd be absolutely crazy to think that the grand tradition of agonizingly horrible video game movies would ever last into 2016!
All well deserved sarcasm aside, let's talk about a real reason why the movie is going to tank. Sure, a lot of people will see it, and it'll probably see moderate success in the box office, but that's because the bulk of the flashy movie going audience is a run of the mill Virtual Philistine. Without trying to sound condescending, I think its a fair assumption that the majority of the population doesn't play video games. Yes, they play games, and they play some video games, but there are deeper levels to the gaming industry and fandom. To the (and I try to use this word without seeming like a douche) casual gamer (no, still sounded like a douche), the lore and experience aren't as immersive or important. There is so much to discuss, portray, and display that a single movie can in no way encompass an entire franchise (let alone one as colossal as WoW). It's like trying to fit the entire Encyclopedia into one 2 hour documentary.
Finally, there's the issue that every single video game movie has: the lack of interaction. Video games are, at this point, the ultimate method of media. They have visual, auditory, and interactive information. They have the time to establish cast amounts of exposition, can have intricate and complex story lines, and often contain non-linear elements. That's something that simply can't be done with the movie medium. Try as they may, a movie will never have the same amount of individualism that a video game can create. Besides, video games give people a sense of singular importance, a character that they don't just identify with, but essentially is them, whereas movies tend to present an ensemble of characters from which you are expected to relate to and thus identify with. One of the most profound moments I had watching a movie was at the end of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, when I realized there would be no more Tolkien movies. I watched the credits roll on my childhood, and it almost brought me to tears, something 13 years in the making (assuming I was first exposed to The Hobbit at the age of 5). Skyrim, however, generated a similarly profound moment when I finally raised a character to the maximum level without glitches or mods (which I timed to happen at the same place the game starts). This was a moment of emotion (yes, about a game, calm down), but it only took me 4 years to have such a cathartic experience. The sheer intensity of involvement and care that goes into a video game can't be explained or extracted in a movie.
So yeah. That new Warcraft movie is going to be a laughably bad attempt at portraying an entire world. And if it isn't I'll eat my words.
Sure, correlation isn't causation. It'd be totally irrational to think that just because one video game movie was an aberration, all video game movies will be that same! That's why I take great pride in Street Fighter from 1994 starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (12% on Rotten Tomatoes), Mortal Kombat and the obviously necessary sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (33% and 3%, respectively), Jason Statham's lost masterpiece In The Name of The King (4% on Rotten Tomatoes), and everybody's favorite: Tron Legacy. I'd be absolutely crazy to think that the grand tradition of agonizingly horrible video game movies would ever last into 2016!
All well deserved sarcasm aside, let's talk about a real reason why the movie is going to tank. Sure, a lot of people will see it, and it'll probably see moderate success in the box office, but that's because the bulk of the flashy movie going audience is a run of the mill Virtual Philistine. Without trying to sound condescending, I think its a fair assumption that the majority of the population doesn't play video games. Yes, they play games, and they play some video games, but there are deeper levels to the gaming industry and fandom. To the (and I try to use this word without seeming like a douche) casual gamer (no, still sounded like a douche), the lore and experience aren't as immersive or important. There is so much to discuss, portray, and display that a single movie can in no way encompass an entire franchise (let alone one as colossal as WoW). It's like trying to fit the entire Encyclopedia into one 2 hour documentary.
Finally, there's the issue that every single video game movie has: the lack of interaction. Video games are, at this point, the ultimate method of media. They have visual, auditory, and interactive information. They have the time to establish cast amounts of exposition, can have intricate and complex story lines, and often contain non-linear elements. That's something that simply can't be done with the movie medium. Try as they may, a movie will never have the same amount of individualism that a video game can create. Besides, video games give people a sense of singular importance, a character that they don't just identify with, but essentially is them, whereas movies tend to present an ensemble of characters from which you are expected to relate to and thus identify with. One of the most profound moments I had watching a movie was at the end of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, when I realized there would be no more Tolkien movies. I watched the credits roll on my childhood, and it almost brought me to tears, something 13 years in the making (assuming I was first exposed to The Hobbit at the age of 5). Skyrim, however, generated a similarly profound moment when I finally raised a character to the maximum level without glitches or mods (which I timed to happen at the same place the game starts). This was a moment of emotion (yes, about a game, calm down), but it only took me 4 years to have such a cathartic experience. The sheer intensity of involvement and care that goes into a video game can't be explained or extracted in a movie.
So yeah. That new Warcraft movie is going to be a laughably bad attempt at portraying an entire world. And if it isn't I'll eat my words.
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