Warcraft is Best-Selling Video Game Movie Ever

The general consensus on the Warcraft movie, from critics and fans alike, is that it pretty much sucks. The pacing is off, the dialogue is bad, its' two hours of exposition and yet we still don't understand what's going on unless you're a fan of the games, there's very little action to be found, the romantic sideplot is contrived, characters are introduced and killed at a pace that's dizzying... yeah, you get it. Big ol' mess.

But just because everyone agrees a game sucks, doesn't mean it can't do well. And in the three weeks Warcraft has been out, it's proven to be the most successful video game movie ever made, finally outselling Prince of Persia: Sands of Time to gross $377 million worldwide.

Why? Well, for one, Blizzard is LOUD, as we've discussed, and there were enough fans of the games and the franchise that they were willing to see it anyway even though they were told it sucks (myself included). But also, the movie was a smash hit in China (maybe they got the GOOD script), where Warcraft and Blizzard has always been popular, and that made up more than half of the movie's revenue, handing over $200 million on its own.

Now, are these good numbers? For a blockbuster movie, not really. Heck, it cost 160 million to make, so Universal isn't exactly rolling in the dough over this one. Still, it did make money, and with China's growing relevance in the world stage, that alone might be enough to get us a Warcraft 2. Which I, personally, wouldn't mind: it could have been a great movie if it just remembered to tell a story rather than establish a freakin' prologue.

Ah well. Hopefully the next go around will be even better.