With "The Beginning" the Warcraft franchise debuted on the big screen in 2016. A Warcraft 2 movie never followed, though several years have passed – let's take a look at the chances of a sequel or a reboot to Blizzard's popular fantasy franchise.
When it comes to video game franchises that have a seemingly endless amount of stories to tell, the Warcraft franchise is what comes to mind for me. Probably because I played Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft, and the game's lore just has delivered endless potential for at least ten stand-alone movies.
To be fair, nobody wants to see a movie about the modern developments in WoW, since they lack the depth of earlier plot lines (especially the Shadowlands expansion was just a big disappointment). But who wouldn't want to watch Arthas' fall from grace, Illidan becoming the Betrayer and first Demon Hunter, or the dramatic decisions Prince Kael'Thas made in order to save his people.
| Warcraft: Quick Facts | |||
| First release: | Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) | ||
| Platform: | PC, Mac | ||
| Developer: | Blizzard | ||
| Particularities: | World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG that was ever released, though you have to pay for it every month |
But what would maybe make most sense to adapt is a story about Thrall. He's a fan favorite, cool as hell and flashy to boot – and since they also featured his birth at the end of The Beginning, a sequel could focus on him as a main character.
That's the kind of stories the franchise offers in theory, and we want to see them on the big screen. But a second Warcraft movie never happened – so will the franchise ever be continued with a new movie? We've checked the latest developments and rumors for you.
Warcraft 2 Movie: If It's Coming, It Will Probably Be A Reboot
To understand why a Warcraft 2 movie has never happened, you mainly have to take a look at the box office results. While “The Beginning” performed quite well in China, it unfortunately pretty much flopped in the US – and a movie that doesn't make enough money is naturally unlikely to get a sequel. Director Duncan Jones always hoped to get the permission for making another Warcraft movie, but in the end, it never happened.
It seems as if Blizzard and Universal Pictures have been at least been thinking about doing another Warcraft movie for years, but then the pandemic came along and... well... you know the rest.
However, rumors in early 2022 indicated that Blizzard and Universal want to include a soft reboot of the story. According to that, they intended to focus on new characters and undo some decisions from the first movie. So maybe even the cliffhanger with Thrall at the end of The Beginning could be resolved.
But in the end, the question remains whether this movie is going to happen at all; it's been more than a year now since the mentioned rumors came up, they have never been confirmed, and there is still no sign of a new Warcraft movie. One explanation for that could be the sexual harassment scandal at Blizzard that was a big topic in 2021 and 2022, resulting in a lot of negative PR for Blizzard. Microsoft's ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard could also play a role. So maybe the plans for a new Warcraft movie have not been canceled, but just be rescheduled a bit.
There are actually some good reasons to believe in one: World of Warcraft is still an extremely popular game, TV series like The Last of Us or Arcane have proven that the curse of bad video game adaptions has its exceptions and in the long run the franchise just offers too much financial potential to ignore it.
We're pretty convinced: It's not about if a new Warcraft movie is coming, but rather about when it is coming and what it will be about. Taking all the information and rumors into account, my educated guess would be that a new Warcraft movie will be announced until 2025, with a release to follow in 2026.
According to Blizzard executive creative director Chris Metzen, the Warcraft movie pretty much kick-started the change from World of Warcraft into a Warcraft-Universe that spans multiple IPs, like Warcraft Rumble. Whenever an idea for a new addition to the franchise comes up, the first question is, how they will shape the Warcraft Universe and whether that fits into Metzen's vision.
So the only thing that stands between us and the Warcraft 2 movie is whether someone will come up with a fitting idea for its implementation. But time will tell – Lok-Tar!
Well, this is everything we know so far, mixed with a little me, but let's see how it turns out.