In case you missed it, Blizzard Entertainment held a massive, multi-platform media event on June 6th to talk about Warcraft and the Warcraft movie. The red carpet (black, actually) was unrolled in front of the Chinese Mann Theater in Hollywood, and 27,000 fans joined in on the event via Twitch. In addition, Facebook allowed fans to post questions for the cast and crew, while a Twitter event was held an hour earlier.
We have distilled the 2 and a half hour event into five nuggets of wisdom that may interest you enough to go back to Twitch and watch the event yourself.
The countdown is on!
1. Fans don’t care about the critics.
Over and over, the guests on the black carpet unequivocally supported the Warcraft movie. They demanded that World of Warcraft players see the movie multiple times to enable the making of a second and even a third movie.
The least enthusiastic statement of support was as follows:
“I’m hoping it doesn’t suck.”
— Ben “Leeroy Jenkins” Schulz, who now plays Overwatch.
2. No one actually knows how long this movie has been in development.
Even the hosts’ estimates varied widely, probably because the announcement of the movie was first made in May 2006.
3. Best quote by a Warcraft cast member
This one is a tie.
An inspiring and heroic line from Toby Kebbell who plays Durotan in the film:
“You can only be brave if you do the thing that scares you the most.”
And this comical, adlibbed line from Daniel Wu, who plays Gul’Dan (a bad guy) in the film:
“It’s hard to look tough on set in a blue onesie with balls on it.”
4. Content creators are celebrities.
The first hour of the broadcast was a steady stream of familiar names, if not faces, from YouTubers, Twitch stars, cosplayers and “Warcraft nerds in general” (Jesse Cox). The excitement in the hosts’ voices as they met these internet stars was palpable.
Jamie Lee Curtis loves cosplay!
5. WoW fans care about lore.
Another common thread in the interviews and behind-the-scenes videos was speculation about how the movie may alter the lore that players of WoW have come to know so well. No spoilers here, but pay attention to how Gorona is portrayed in the movie, and then compare that her backstory in the Legion expansion.
If these brief snapshots of the event interest you, you can visit the Twitch channel and soak up some Warcraft positive energy yourself. You can learn some secrets to effective cosplay, discover some prime raid dungeons from the game’s best players, and perhaps be inspired to dust off your account and get back into the game!
