We are just about three weeks away from the release of the long anticipated Warcraft movie… I mean, I was making silly guesses at possible actors more than six years ago.
It can take a long time for things to go from an idea in progress to an actual production in Hollywood. But the day is finally coming. June 10, 2016 is the big day.
And, I must admit, I’m not all that excited.
I will still go see Warcraft. And, of course, Blizzard is happy to remind me it is coming. They sent me a note about it.
Coming June 10, 2016
It remains to be seen if this will be such a blockbuster that one would need to reserve tickets. The trailer left me a little flat. But that might just be my proximity to the franchise. And Blizz is also putting some incentives out there. If you go to the right theater chain… which isn’t local to me… you could win tickets to BlizzCon.
I have to drive past a lot of theaters to get to a Regal…
But if there is a Regal cinema near you, watch the promo to see what you have to do in order to win.
Meanwhile, Blizz is also using the launch of the movie to get more people playing World of Warcraft. The link between the movie and the game is obvious to us, but perhaps not so to everybody. So when you go see the movie you will also get a code for a digital copy of the game which includes 30 days of play time… if you go to the right theater chain. Blizz has a post up about which chains will get you into Azeroth.
That seems like odd box art to use
Here in the US the freebie is limited to United Artists Theaters, Edwards Theaters, and the aforementioned Regal Cinemas. No break for those of us in a sea of CineMark, and AMC outlets, not to mention the local independents.
Blizzard even sweetened the deal for those getting a free digital copy by including Warlords of Draenor as part of the base package, an unprecedented move. Generally the next expansion has to ship before previous content gets included in the base game. Of course, that also means you have to call support if you have a copy of Warlords of Draenor you haven’t activated yet, otherwise you won’t get your free level 90 boost.
And for those of us who already have the game, who bought Warlords of Draenor, and who aren’t in range of any of the participating theaters in any case… well… we get some nice transmog items if we log in between May 25 and August 1, 2016.
Shiny movie transmog stuff
It isn’t clear if you have to be subscribed or can log in your level 20 or under characters to collect. I suspect that a subscription will be necessary, but I will likely subscribe by August in any case to get in on the build up to WoW Legion.
So the movie is coming. Will you be going to see it? Time for a poll I think!
[There is a multiple choice poll above this line, which gets blocked in some browsers.]
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
I voted “in the theatre for sure” because whether it’s good, bad or ugly, you just know everyone in our little corner of the blogosphere will be talking about it and I want to be able to have an opinion too! Plus I’ve got some cinema vouchers that need using up after Rogue One’s release was delayed.
Curious mix of European countries they’ve got for that promotion… interesting that the UK isn’t one of them.
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@Shintar – I am considering a Sunday matinee after it opens.
The US theater choices are less expansive than I thought. I went and looked up Regal and found that United Artists and Edwards are owned by them. So one theater chain, though perhaps the biggest one in the US. Just not a chain well represented in Silicon Valley, as there isn’t a single one in the county.
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I voted “When it makes it video”, not because I’m not interested in seeing it but because I get to the movies about once a year these days and I am pretty sure I don’t want to see Warcraft enough to make it my annual trip out.
I’m more interested to see it because Duncan Jones directed it than because it’s Warcraft, to be honest. There’s still a fair-to-middling chance I might buy Legion though.
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I answered when it gets to video but it should be qualified with “if there is literally nothing else to do.” I expect it to have zero appeal to anyone who isn’t a hardcore WoW fan. (I can tell because I’m not a hardcore WoW fan and the trailer has zero appeal to me.)
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I’d never even heard of Regal cinemas until a few days ago when I read about this offer. Are they common in other parts of the country? When I looked them up I discovered I’d have to drive for an hour to get to one from where I live. (While I’m 15 minutes away from two different Century theaters in opposite directions.)
I tend to go see all of the geek movies in theaters on the first weekend showing since it’s cheaper, unless the reviews are so terrible that I’d rather save my money and be entertained by the mocking reviews on the internet instead.
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According to Wikipedia, Regal has “7,334 screens in 588 locations in 44 states” and was the biggest movie chain in the US until March of this year, when AMC bought Carmike, boosting AMC to 653 theaters. (Also, Regal has gone down to 572 theaters since that Wikipedia article was last updated.)
Remember, when you have access to Google, you can sound like an expert on just about anything trivial!
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I voted in the theatre for sure. I enjoy the experience of movies generally (though not enough to spend $40 too regularly), and was just enough of a lore nerd when I did play WoW that I recognize a lot of what appears to be going on.
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I will watch this although not sure yet if I will blow $82 to see this in the theatre (otherwise I will obtain it via other “means”). I like Travis Fimmel in his Vikings role but if he has a poor script in this new film that won’t mean much.
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In Denmark where I live two movie tickets + popcorn and two sodas cost around the same as half a year of HBO Nordic or Netflix, so I’ll be waiting until it goes on one of the streaming services.
It’s not that I’m not interestedly, I’d actually like to watch it, but I’m not, that, interested.
I mean I could probably preorder civ 6 for that money.
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Looks fun, will see it in the theater. I go to an AMC theater so no free game for me.
From the trailers I really wish they made the entire movie CGI, when it cuts from humans to orcs and back it’s very jarring.
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“In the theatre” But to be fair that is only because my old guildies/RL friends have invited. And no way I am saying no to a night with them :-)
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