'Warcraft' Movie Footage Released Ahead Of Upcoming Trailer; Features Video Game Easter Eggs

Although there has arguably never been a good movie based on a video game, that hasn’t stopped director Duncan Jones from swinging for the fence with the upcoming adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s iconic “Warcraft.” Now, to tease the debut of the film’s trailer, the first footage of the movie has been released giving fans a look at the live-action world of Azeroth coming in 2016.

The trailer was initially released by way of the film’s official Twitter page. Although it’s only a 15-second video, HitFix notes that it was jam-packed with content that the average player of the hit Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), “World of Warcraft,” will undoubtedly recognize. For example, the jagged mountains of the Arathi Highlands, the opulent human capital city of Stormwind, and the farming community of Westfall.

As for moments in the teaser that will attract non-players to the very strange franchise, it opens with an armor-clad human leaping onto the back of a gryphon before flying downward into battle against an entire horde of CGI orc warriors. The video game, although it’s evolved significantly over the years, originated as a story about human beings in a fantasy world encountering, and eventually going to war with, their green-skinned rivals, the orcs. The film will bring the origins of that conflict to life on the big screen in the hopes of attracting an audience of both fans and newcomers alike.

According to IGN, the teaser trailer comes just three days before the expected premiere of the official, full-length “Warcraft” trailer at Blizzcon 2015. Luckily for those that can’t attend the event, Blizzard has announced that DIRECTV users can livestream the trailer’s premiere event beginning at 11:00 a.m. PST on Friday, Nov. 6.

The first footage of the film comes on the heels of the official poster release, as well as some production stills released as part of Empire Magazine’s coverage of the movie (via BuzzHub). In both, fans are treated to their first look at characters Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel), Durotan (Toby Kebbel) and Orgrim Doomhammer (Robert Kazinskiy).

"Warcraft" is scheduled to debut June 10, 2016.