Box office Warcraft grossed $47.4 million in the United States, and $391.7 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $439.1 million. Worldwide, it became the highest-grossing film based on a video game until it was surpassed by
The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023. It was the first video game film to cross $400 million in ticket sales globally, and was also only the second Hollywood release (after
Terminator Genisys) to earn $100 million in China without making $100 million in the United States. In the United States and Canada,
Warcraft opened on June 10, 2016, alongside
The Conjuring 2 and
Now You See Me 2, and was projected to gross around $25 million in its opening weekend from 3,400 theaters.
Variety reported that the film was generating only moderate interest among U.S. moviegoers, which could possibly hurt its box office performance stateside, with poor reviews and competition from the aforementioned films and
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (released the week prior) also affecting its performance. The film grossed $3.1 million in its Thursday night previews and $10.7 million on its first day. It fell by 70% on its
second weekend, earning $7.2 million.
Critical response On
Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 29% based on reviews with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "
Warcraft has visual thrills to spare, but they – and director Duncan Jones' distinctive gifts – are wasted on a sluggish and derivative adaptation of a bestselling game with little evident cinematic value." On
Metacritic, the film has a score of 32 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Geoff Berkshire of
Variety criticized the film's attempts at adapting a source material with "inherent ridiculousness" with regard to how the original game series was not meant to have a very deep narrative: "[I]t's an unwaveringly earnest film that never owns up to exactly how campy every character, every conflict and every new realm truly is." A.A. Dowd of
The A.V. Club wrote that, "To watch
Warcraft is never to be transported, but to wade through a thick morass of mythology, exposition, gaudy light-show effects, half-assed character development, and formulaic franchise groundwork," while describing director/cowriter Duncan Jones as "a talented sci-fi fabulist who's fallen screaming into the same CGI abyss that consumed
Peter Jackson during his unfortunate
Hobbit cycle." Helen O'Hara, reviewing for
British GQ, stated that although the film itself is a "strong adaptation" of
Warcraft, the script diminishes the film's impact: "The problem is that it just can't escape those cod-fantasy roots. There are too many mysterious proper nouns being thrown into conversation and at least 12 major characters competing for space … [W]e're zipping from one to another here so quickly that they only have time for the most portentous, and sometimes clichéd, dialogue." Sheri Linden of
The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, citing the performances and story as highlights. Brian Truitt of
USA Today also praised the acting, particularly Kebbell's performance as Durotan. "Kebbell's performance showcases the nuances of a father gripped by the no-win situation of having no home and his family in constant danger." Truitt also stated that he found it was not necessary for viewers of the film to have prior knowledge of the
Warcraft series to enjoy the film.
Accolades ==Future==