Legendary debuted some footage from the Warcraft movie at San Diego Comic-Con, and unfortunately, that footage was not released to the public. Of course, fans outraged and demanded that Legendary (and Blizzard, although they have little input in the matter) share the footage, and director Duncan Jones tweeted that a proper trailer will be released to the public in November (Blizzcon?). This is great news that we finally know when we will see the trailer, but most fans are still outraged that no one outside the few thousand in attendance in Hall H got to see the footage.
But what does it matter?
The movie is coming in June of 2016. Everyone is going to have the chance to see the movie – all the footage – at that time. Anything before that is just a teaser – it serves no point beyond marketing, which we are fundamentally doing for Legendary by complaining about the lack of a trailer. People keep pointing out that Legendary is holding the trailer so it can be released in time to drive hype for the movie, but just by talking about the lack of footage we are doing that. The angrier we get and tweet and complain about there not being any public footage only keeps the movie in the public consciousness. Because we cannot see the footage, we are only more incensed and talk about it more. Legendary is teasing us just with the promise of the trailer. Once we get the trailer, everyone’s going to comment “WOW! THAT LOOKS GREAT! CAN’T WAIT FOR JUNE! FOR THE HORDE!” and that will be it. But for now, Legendary has people enraged on forums and tweeting angrily at them and even me writing this column about the movie. The hype machine is rolling along, and we are it.
Furthermore, in the long run, what do trailers matter? In the last decade, as trailers have transitioned from something you watched by getting to the theater early to something you watch on YouTube, does any trailer for any movie have any relevance beyond the first viewing, let alone the release date? Avengers: Age of Ultron had a ton of hype for it, but what do the trailers matter now? Sure, Hulk v. Hulkbuster looked awesome (and it was awesome in the movie), but what does that matter now that we’ve all seen the movie and moved on? Does anyone care about AoU now? For any excitement those first trailers with Ultron attacking the Avengers may have generated, it is worth nothing now. That energy has been expended and our focus is (as it always is) on what comes next. Which in this case, is Warcraft. I look forward to all this frustration dissipating by June, only to re-emerge when Legendary inevitably delays releasing footage from Warcraft 2.
Ultimately, the demand of the Warcraft trailer is good. It is good to see that despite the general disappointment in the state of the game lately, fans are still excited by the franchise. But not getting a public trailer should barely register as a disappointment. The trailer is coming in November. The movie is coming in June. All else is irrelevant. Any time spent petitioning Legendary would be better spent doing just about anything else. Let’s move on with our lives and complain about stuff that really affects people.
Like how terrible Activision is.
WoW! Blurbs!
You know these FIXES are HOT because they were forged in Hellfire! http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/19820045/patch-62-hotfixes-july-13-7-13-2015
Legendary released a virtual flyover of Stormwind. Now I can visit Stormwind on my phone and never leave my garrison! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_J8k43gUhY
Blizzard announced some additional movie related material, including a graphic novel precursor to the movie. BUT NO EXPANSION? WTF BLIZZ?!?!? http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/19816948/blizzard-at-comic-con-7-9-2015
Rest in Peace, Iwata.
