Warcraft
Director: Duncan Jones
Screenwriter: Charles Leavitt and Duncan Jones
Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, and Daniel Wu
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 123 Minutes
Release Date: June 10th, 2016

It’s not easy being a movie adaptation based on a very popular video game, especially one that has a huge fanbase like “World of Warcraft.” The long-running MMORPG has been a part of the gaming culture for the better part of 20 years, and with that kind of history, there is bound to be a number of stories to work with at anyone’s disposal. So with Warcraft, it was up to Duncan Jones (Moon) to go straight back to the beginning where it all started, and give us a film that both players and non-gamers can appreciate, by tapping into the source material and using the mythology of the fantasy genre.

However, the film does not deliver. In fact, it falls very short of saving the kingdom and lets the castle fall into the enemy known as boredom. Check out my full review below.

Warcraft is the big budget blockbuster video game adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. The popular title has a huge built-in fanbase, and has been played by millions of people around the world. Now the gaming company, along with Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures, will be releasing the film this summer. Directed by Duncan Jones, the film sees the Orcs escaping their decaying home world through a mystical portal, and attempting to colonize peaceful realm of Azeroth which is ruled by humans.

We were recently invited to the press conference on the film’s press day where we sat with a group of our fellow journalists to talk to Jones, and cast Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Paula Patton, and Ben Schnetzer. There they talked about giving the fantasy genre a new voice, playing their respective roles, the visual effects, and much more.

Check out our top seven things we learned from the Warcraft press conference below.

With its June 10th release date fast approaching, Legendary has been releasing plenty of peeks and previews for Warcraft in a home stretch attempt to get as many people as possible who aren’t already sold on the movie excited to see it when it arrives.

Among the videos that have been released are some behind the scenes featurettes that chat with the cast and crew and look at things like training, visual effects—including taking CG character facial expressions and digital hair to another level—and re-creating The Lion’s Pride inn from the game the movie is based on, World of Warcraft.

You can check out all of these videos plus a collection of videos looking at the various individual characters below.

Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for the big screen adaptation of Warcraft. Based on the popular game of the same name, the film is directed by Duncan Jones and stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Rob Kazinsky, and Daniel Wu.

This is rather short for a trailer, and something that could easily be confusing because of its short runtime and lack of plot reveal. Not that fans of the game need details considering they have been playing it for as long as they can remember. But for those who haven’t invested their time playing the game getting some sense of the story would have at least helped. Check out the trailer below.

A new trailer has been released for A Monster Calls, a fantasy drama from director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible) that’s an adaptation of the children’s novel of the same name written by Patrick Ness, who also penned the screenplay. It stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Ghostbusters), Lewis MacDougall (Pan), Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Warcraft), and Liam Neeson (The Phantom Menace, Batman Begins) as a giant talking tree monster.

A Monster Calls tells the story of a boy who escapes to a fantasy world in order to help him deal with the illness his mother is suffering from and the bullies who torment him at school. The novel it’s adapted from was written based on an original idea by author Siobhan Dowd, who came up with it while suffering from terminal cancer but sadly passed away before she was able to write it.

You can read more about the movie and check out the trailer below.