Warcraft (also known as Warcraft: The Beginning) is a 2016 American action-fantasy film based on the popular video game series of the same name. Directed by Duncan Jones and co-written by Charles Leavitt and Jones, the movie stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Clancy Brown, and Daniel Wu. The story revolves around two key characters—Anduin Lothar from the Kingdom of Stormwind and Durotan, leader of the Frostwolf clan—who find themselves on opposing sides of an escalating war. As Gul’dan, a powerful orc warlock, leads the Horde to invade the peaceful world of Azeroth using a magical portal, both humans and dissident orcs must come together to confront the greater evil threatening both races.

The film was originally announced in 2006 as a collaboration between Legendary Pictures and Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of the game. Warcraft premiered in Paris on May 24, 2016, and was released in the U.S. by Universal Pictures on June 10, 2016. Despite receiving generally negative reviews from critics and underperforming domestically, the film grossed $439 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing video game adaptation at the time.

In the story, Draenor, the orcs’ homeworld, is being destroyed by a dark force known as fel magic. Gul’dan unites the orc clans into the Horde and opens a portal to Azeroth by using this fel magic, which drains life from captive draenei. As a small group of orcs, including Durotan, his pregnant wife Draka, and Orgrim Doomhammer, cross into Azeroth, Draka goes into labor.

Gul’dan saves the dying baby, Go’el, using fel magic. As the orcs begin raiding Azeroth’s settlements, Commander Anduin Lothar leads the human forces of Stormwind in a desperate battle to defend their world from the invasion.