The "Warcraft" movie has done well overseas, breaking box office charts in almost all countries. However, the critics seem to be pessimistic about whether the same amount of success will be replicated in the US.
Forbes reports that Legendary Pictures' adaptation of the popular video game franchise has smashed box office records in some countries, earning $31.6 million in the first five days of release. The film also earned $2.1 million in 73 IMAX theaters.
"Warcraft's" opening day earned $10 million in Russia, making it one of the biggest film debuts in the country, second only to Fox's "Deadpool." It earned $5.9 million in Germany, $4.5 million in France and $1.2 million in Sweden.
The movie is also #1 in Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Latvia, Lebanon, Middle East, Norway, Pakistan, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. It was released in twenty countries ahead of everyone else and Warcraft has topped all box office charts in all countries, except in the Philippines, where landed in second place.
Despite the roaring box office success overseas, Gamezone reports that the movie may not do as well in the U.S.. The site has given "Warcraft" a projected earning of only $25 million on its opening weekend, a measly figure compared to the film's $160 million total budget.
The "Warcraft" movie will be pitted against heavyweight film titles on the same opening weekend. The "Conjuring 2" and "Now You See Me 2," both highly anticipated movies, will be shown on the same day, giving the video game adaptation a strong competition in the US box office charts.
There are also a lot of negative reviews about the movie, with the film getting only 37 out of 100 on Metacritic and a measly 21% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Director Duncan James and his team have taken a huge risk in producing "Warcraft," as previous video game to movie adaptations generally did not do well in the box office. Case in point: the 1993 Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Meanwhile, another highly anticipated video game adaptation is coming up later this year. The "Assassin's Creed" movie is being developed by Fox under the close supervision of game developer Ubisoft, and is aiming to end the negative trend against video game to movie adaptations.
