Warcraft‘s industry forecasts have simmered down from yesterday’s hype to an estimated $25.7M opening weekend in second place at 3,400 theaters. Yes, that’s an awful domestic opening for a film that cost $160M, but the Universal-Legendary co-production was built to reap the majority of its cost back from China where close to half of the game’s 5.6M fans reside. As of this morning, China is on fire with a four-day B.O. of $145M. Deadline hears that Warcraft could end its run in the Middle Kingdom with $200M-$250M. In total a $500M global tally gets this ambitious humans vs. orcs story at break-even. Uni and Legendary rolled Warcraft out abroad first to avoid any stateside damage. Too often if a film bombs here, it can poison its tills abroad.
