The recent announcement of Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming Warcraft movie, directed by Sam Raimi, may not get much help moving into blockbuster status from its namesake game series followers. http://Watchmovieson.com reports that the overall interest in movies that have been based on popular game titles has been less than positive over the last 3 years, with the 10 most recent feature films (excluding Pokemon) grossing an average of approximately $36 Million per film worldwide. One of the often overlooked facts is that high expectations from dedicated followers of gamers creates over-hyped anticipation, and if initial reviews from peers are low then interest to see the movie plummets.
With an estimated budget of $100 Million the Warcraft movie seems destined for success based on the more than 12 Million subscribers that could potentially account for more than $180 Million in gross revenue for the film but in a recent poll less than 10% of gamers say they have paid to see a movie at the box office within the last 12 months.
Box office statistics for game related movies indicate that for World of Warcraft to meet its expected gross revenue it will not need to worry about critic reviews, but instead reviews from first-week movie goers to drive the interest up in the movie: Blizzard will have to rely on quality over player loyalty.
Also notable is that movie performance has little effect on the overall player base of existing games, with gains typically less than 5% of pre-production numbers. If the Warcraft movie is very successful, its returns will be limited to box office and DVD related revenue, and forecasts for increased conversion rates of game subscribers will be insignificant. Together these two products can share ideas from each other, but individually they must stand on their own.
