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Warcraft (2016)

123 min · Action, Fantasy, action film, adventure film, fantasy film

Popularity5/5
12-month trend44k22kExpand

12-month trend

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44k02025-09: 22,797 views2025-10: 22,431 views2025-11: 24,691 views2025-12: 24,969 views2026-01: 38,624 views2026-02: 28,223 views2026-03: 23,726 views2026-04: 35,626 views2026-05: 44,482 views2026-06: 29,802 views2026-07: 29,623 views2026-08: 27,294 views
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2025-09 to 2026-08

Two opposing sides of a growing war must find common ground to stop a dark power from consuming their worlds.

The story

The film follows Anduin Lothar of Stormwind and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan as heroes set on opposite sides of a growing war, as the warlock Gul'dan leads the Horde to invade Azeroth using a magic portal. Together, a few human heroes and dissenting orcs must attempt to stop the true evil behind this war and restore peace.

Full plot (contains spoilers)

On the world of Draenor, the warlock Gul'dan uses fel magic to unite orc clans into the Horde and opens a portal to Azeroth. Durotan, a Frostwolf chieftain, and his allies join the initial warband, while on Azeroth, Anduin Lothar and the mage Khadgar investigate the magical corruption. After a series of skirmishes and the discovery of a betrayal by the Guardian Medivh, the two sides realize the true threat posed by Gul'dan. Durotan and Lothar eventually find common ground to fight the common enemy. The story concludes with a desperate battle where Medivh is mortally wounded while closing the portal to Draenor. In the aftermath, a peace is tentatively established between the humans and the remaining orcs, while the human nations form an alliance against the remaining threats.

Original title
Warcraft: The Beginning
First release year
2016
Runtime (minutes)
123
Production countries
United States
Original languages
English
Directors
Duncan Jones
Writers
Charles Leavitt · writer; Duncan Jones · writer
Cast and characters
Travis Fimmel · Anduin Lothar; Paula Patton · Garona; Ben Foster · Medivh; Dominic Cooper · King Llane Wrynn; Toby Kebbell · Durotan; Ben Schnetzer · Khadgar; Robert Kazinsky · Orgrim Doomhammer; Daniel Wu · Gul'dan
Genres
action; fantasy
Themes
war; sacrifice; unity
Tone and mood
epic; serious
Setting
The worlds of Draenor and Azeroth.
Premise and plot tags
fantasy; war; video game adaptation
Source material / true-story basis
Warcraft video game series
Franchise connections
Warcraft
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews from critics, though fans of the Warcraft franchise were kinder to it.
Reported review scores
Rotten Tomatoes · score: 29%; Metacritic · score: 32 · scale: 100 · review count: 40
Production trivia
The film was the highest-grossing film based on a video game at the time of its release.; The film was first announced in 2006.; The film was set to be released in December 2015 but was pushed back due to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Catalogue themes and tags

Birth, Chief, Dwarf, Dämon, Fictional Place, Gefecht, Golem, Human Beings, Invasion, Königshaus, Medieval world, Mythical Creature, Portal, Self Sacrifice, Sorcerer, Teleportation, Verlust des Sohnes, Warrior woman, Zauberkraft, Zweikampf, gryphon

Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.

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