So, it looks like WARCRAFT is on its way to becoming the highest grossing film ever just based on presales. Already tracking to surpass F7.
In China and Russia. As of this moment warcraft is expected to surpass F7 in China ($390 million) based on presales, and perhaps even overtake The Mermaid which made $553 million in China.
Also, Warcraft just had its premier in France today, and the response so far has been very positive (keep in mind it's mostly fans of the franchise that attended). The consensus seems to be, Warcraft is the new standard for CGI and the orcs are amazing, while human actors get the job done but nothing mind blowing in regards to human performance
for the most part .
There was also a critic review (Norweigan, had to look for translation):
Warcraft: The Beginning « NRK Filmpolitiet - alt om film, spill og tv-serier
He tweeted his summary for english speakers saying, "My
#WarcraftMovie review in norwegian says things like "fun, engaging, entertaining, hard-hitting". 4/6 stars"
Just to note, he stated he had no prior knowledge to Warcraft.
I'm thinking overall it will be considered a decent - good movie among those who don't really know about Warcraft, and probably a good to great movie for those who are fans of the warcraft franchise. I've heard for those that don't know much about Warcraft, it can be hard keeping up with the different characters and all the different zones.
Edit: Going to sneak an edit in here. Some more reviews are coming out and there seems to be a huge divide between US reviewers and international. As of this moment, 4 us reviews have come out, 2 of which are brutally negative, and 2 mixed. Quite a few foreign reviews are coming out too though and they are ranging from 6.5 - 8/10. Still early as far as reviews go, just seems interesting that there seems to be a real big divide so far. Will be interesting to see if it continues to be panned by US critics or if the scores will begin to improve. I was under the impression that there was an embargo on US publications until the 30th - but some have already come out