10 Movies Killed By God-Awful Trailers

7. Warcraft

The Mummy Trailer
Universal Pictures

Duncan Jones' Warcraft was far from perfect. Nobody is going to deny that. Nevertheless, this adaptation of Blizzard's influential MMORPG didn't deserve to bomb as badly as it did. Sure, the story was a little lacking, but the CGI was breathtaking, the motion-capture was top-notch, the action sequences were inventive, and the characterisation was surprisingly deep.

Too bad that everybody, including the biggest World of Warcraft fans, lost interest in this potential moneymaker when the trailer dropped. Although there's absolutely nothing wrong with the visuals, the trailer is accompanied with dubstep music, which jars with the medieval fantasy theme.

Imagine if The Lord of the Rings previews were layered with a modern rap. Picture any of the Harry Potter trailers with Yakety Sax playing in the background. You couldn't take it seriously, could you?

As a result, people unfamiliar with the game thought Warcraft was another generic blockbuster while die-hard games assumed the adaptation would have no resemblance to the source material. Because this trailer destroyed almost everyone's interest in the film, it's no surprise why Warcraft fared so badly at the box office.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows