A Forgotten Fantasy Epic Is Ranking High On Netflix's Top Movie Charts

One of Netflix's tactics to keep audiences engaged is finding forgotten films and presenting them to modern viewers. So often the streamer asks us all the question, "Are you sure you didn't like this when it first came out?," and apparently our collective response is frequently "No, actually, it's kinda good." This happened earlier this year with forgotten action movie "The Bricklayer" and prior to that Netflix breathed new life into Keanu Reeves' 2008 crime-thriller "Street Kings." In the latter's case, it was a worthy resurgence for a decent little effort from director David Ayer that slipped under the radar when it first released. But in the case of, say, "The Snowman," which resurfaced in Netflix in 2023 after a dismal theatrical debut back in 2017, we started to get the idea that Netflix viewers will watch pretty much anything.

Now, the streaming juggernaut is once again offering a forgotten film somewhat of a reprieve. This time, its 2016's "Warcraft," an adaptation of the video game series of the same name directed and co-written by Duncan Jones ("Moon," "Source Code"). What exactly is "Warcraft" about? Well, unless you're a fan of the original video games, you might be a bit confused by any synopsis for this lore-heavy fantasy outing. Essentially, it's about a realm called Azeroth which comes under siege by a horde of orcs fleeing their homeworld. Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) of Stormwind and Durotan (Toby Kebbell) of the Frostwolf clan are involved in the ensuing war, so take what you will from that.

Unfortunately, this epic tale didn't equate to quite such epic reviews. The film currently has a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned $438.8 million worldwide, which allowed it to almost break even. Not the best initial showing, then, but that's where Netflix comes in.

"Warcraft" arrived on Netflix on July 1, 2024, and according to FlixPatrol, a site that aggregates streaming viewership numbers, by July 3 the film had already hit the number two spot on the United States' most-watched charts. Since then it's seen a slight decline, falling to number three as of July 3 and hitting number five as of July 9. But that's still a pretty strong showing from Duncan Jones' action fantasy some eight years after it first debuted.

At the time of writing, "Warcraft" is competing with nostalgia-heavy sequel "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," which is in the number one spot. Between Eddie Murphy and the Warcraft orcs are such formidable foes as Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron with their rom-com "A Family Affair," and Sandra Bullock with her controversial 2009 hit "The Blind Side," which claimed to be a true story but may or may not have been based on a lie. Not only that, but in order to make its way back up the charts "Warcraft" will have to do battle with perhaps the most powerful adversaries imaginable in the Minions, which currently occupy the number three spot with the 2015 "Minions" movie.

With that in mind, and with the fact that "Warcraft" has been slowly slipping down the chart since its debut, it doesn't seem likely that the movie will make it back to the top spot any time soon. But Jones can surely be glad his forgotten 2016 effort has had a mini renaissance courtesy of Netflix.

As mentioned, when it isn't pumping out an alarming amount of original "content," Netflix is relying on our collective ability to completely forget when films originally came out and whether they were any good. This two-pronged approach to preventing churn — i.e. users canceling their accounts — has proven quite successful, and has allowed Netflix to remain the biggest streaming service in the game with around 270 million subscribers worldwide. A healthy and consistent stream of new media is the name of the game when it comes to keeping your audience, and Netflix has proven it knows how to provide. 

Of course, in the process we've all become overwhelmed by a cavalcade of film and TV offerings to the point actually choosing something to watch has become nothing less than a chore as we endlessly scroll the interface. Every now and then, though, one of these forgotten films makes it easier to gain the upper hand over the tyranny of choice we currently face. In the case of "Warcraft," though it might not have been met with the best critical response, it does come at a time when Hollywood is turning to video games to satiate its never-ending desire to rework existing IP and feed it to the masses in movie-form. Last year, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" became one of the 20 biggest movies at the box office ever, and on the TV side, "The Last of Us" was a huge hit for MAX.

In other words, the video game curse that hobbled "Warcraft" might well have lifted, making this the perfect time to dangle a forgotten video game adaptation under streaming viewers' noses. Does it mean "Warcraft" is actually good? Well, you'll have to stream it and find out... but no, probably not.