Blizzard really needs to make an animated World of Warcraft movie

The latest cinematic trailer for WoW: Battle for Azeroth have us undeniably pumped to play, but it’s got us wanting an animated WoW movie even more.

If by, some chance, you haven’t seen the trailers for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth or aren’t particularly into the World of Warcraft (WoW) games, you have to see the trailers. You won’t be able to resist getting consumed by the story. Even the gameplay clips have a compelling hold, and it’s proof that Blizzard really needs to make another Warcraft movie.

Now, I know you’re thinking “But a WoW movie has already been released.” And yes, that is true. Warcraft came out in 2016 and has a decent audience score of 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

But imagine how fresh a movie with the same cinematics as the Azeroth trailers (as well as the engrossing characters, stories and epic scores that Blizzard provides) would be. If the movie was like the cinematic trailer, imagine watching an epic battle scene like this on the big screen or *gasp* IMAX!

Warcraft didn’t live up to expectations of critics and reviewers who are new to the franchise (the Rotten Tomatoes critic score is at a harsh 28 percent). This is possibly due to the fact that director Duncan Jones made the movie for the fans by being sympathetic to both sides of the war, knowing many WoW fans play both Horde and the Alliance teams.

While most fans liked the movie, Warcraft still had its faults. Among many reviews, a main problem with the movie was the weak storyline and lack of character development.

What would have been more effective is if the film only showed the perspective of one side. And then, if successful at the box office, they could have a prequel to show the perspective of the other side. Or, they could scrap that all together and make something similar to the Azeroth compilation trailer above (specifically speaking from the 10:40  to 18:34 mark).

To be fair, it would be difficult to fit so much lore from the different races and in general the world history of WoW into a 2-hour movie, yet Blizzard seems to show powerful connections to the epic stories and characters through only a few minutes of a trailer.

The use of cinematography is astounding; the action is perfectly paired with a captivating score, and the graphics are flawless. Still, only in a few fleeting moments, you see everything you’d want or need in a movie. It begs us to ask the question, why hasn’t there been an animated movie already? The proof that it could be an epic film is there already. And with a great director who really knows WoW and its lore, we’re sure things would come together perfectly.

What are your thoughts on Warcraft? Would you be interested in an animated movie from Blizzard?