Warcraft (alternatively known as Warcraft: The Beginning) is a 2016 American action fantasy film based on the video game series of the same name. Directed by Duncan Jones and written by Charles Leavitt and Jones, it stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Clancy Brown, and Daniel Wu. 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.
The film was first announced in 2006 as a project partnership between Legendary Pictures and the game’s developer, Blizzard Entertainment. Warcraft premiered in Paris on May 24, 2016, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on June 10, 2016. Though it underperformed domestically and received generally negative reviews from critics, the film managed to gross $439 million worldwide making it the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time. Draenor, homeworld to the orcs, is being torn apart by a mysterious force known as fel magic.
Gul’dan, an orc warlock, unites the orc clans into the Horde, and creates a portal to the world of Azeroth by using fel magic to drain the life out of captive draenei. Gul’dan leads a small warband through the portal to capture and sacrifice prisoners on Azeroth to bring the Horde. Durotan, the chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan, his pregnant mate Draka, and his friend Orgrim Doomhammer join this initial warband. When the orcs arrive on Azeroth, Draka goes into labor, and Gul’dan rescues the dying baby, named Go’el, by draining the life out of a nearby deer to revive and infuse them with fel magic. The orcs raid several settlements throughout Azeroth. Anduin Lothar, commander of the human forces of Stormwind Kingdom, finds a trespassing mage named Khadgar investigating the bodies of the slain men, who explains that the bodies contained traces of fel magic. Stormwind’s king, Llane Wrynn, sends them to the stronghold Karazhan to inform Medivh, the Guardian of Tirisfal, of the fel magic’s presence on Azeroth.
Lothar, Khadgar, and Medivh join a scouting team following traces of fel magic, but are ambushed by orcs. Medivh uses a spell to kill the fel-corrupted orcs, leaving the Horde’s warchief, Blackhand, to flee along with Durotan and Orgrim. The team takes a half-orc slave, Garona, as prisoner, but Llane releases her in exchange for loyalty to Stormwind. Garona leads the humans to spy on the orc camp, where they learn of Gul’dan’s plan to bring the Horde to Azeroth. While studying a book found in Medivh’s library, Khadgar realizes that Gul’dan had help from someone in Azeroth opening the portal.
Despite Orgrim’s objections, Durotan meets with Llane secretly to unite the Frostwolf Clan and the humans against Gul’dan, but the group is ambushed by Blackhand. Medivh forms a magical barrier to protect the humans’ retreat, but Lothar’s son Callan is separated from the group and killed by Blackhand. Medivh is weakened, and Garona and Khadgar take him back to Karazhan to recover. After noticing Medivh’s eyes shine green, Khadgar realizes that he has been corrupted by fel magic and that he is the one who helped Gul’dan. At the orc camp, Blackhand purges the Frostwolf Clan. Orgrim helps Draka to escape, and she sends Go’el down a river in a basket, but is found and killed.