The next D&D movie...


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D&D movie gets its director.

It's Rob Letterman, who directed MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, A SHARK'S TALE, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and GOOSEBUMPS. He's...okay, I guess? He's had a lot of effects experience, and also worked on the CGI for SHREK.

I'm a lot less hopeful about the script, written by the guy who did WRATH OF THE TITANS.

Hasbro and Warner Brothers aren't exactly bringing top-tier talent to the movie so far.

They have released a blurb though:

Quote:
"Based on the popular fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and first published in 1974, the action-adventure tale centers on a warrior and his band of mystical creatures – including a half-dragon and a cunning gnome – as they embark on a dangerous journey to find a mythical treasure."

We know from previous information that the film will be at least partially set in Waterdeep and the Yawning Portal Inn will feature.

I am not entirely disheartened but I'm not seeing too much to get excited about at this time.


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I'm not thrilled, I've always been more of a fan of good costume and props than outright CGI, but then again, done well, CGI can blow my mind.
My bigger concern is if it will FEEL like a game of D&D and still be a good movie, which has been a stumbling block for previous D&D movies.

Sovereign Court

OH GOD NO THEY'LL be using anthropomorphic dragons nooo

Sovereign Court

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Werthead wrote:

D&D movie gets its director.

It's Rob Letterman, who directed MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, A SHARK'S TALE, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and GOOSEBUMPS. He's...okay, I guess? He's had a lot of effects experience, and also worked on the CGI for SHREK.

I'm a lot less hopeful about the script, written by the guy who did WRATH OF THE TITANS.

Hasbro and Warner Brothers aren't exactly bringing top-tier talent to the movie so far.

They have released a blurb though:

Quote:
"Based on the popular fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and first published in 1974, the action-adventure tale centers on a warrior and his band of mystical creatures – including a half-dragon and a cunning gnome – as they embark on a dangerous journey to find a mythical treasure."

We know from previous information that the film will be at least partially set in Waterdeep and the Yawning Portal Inn will feature.

I am not entirely disheartened but I'm not seeing too much to get excited about at this time.

1. I'm pretty happy with Goosebumps/Wrath of the Titan kind of quality if that's what we get (i.e. if they don't do a rush job it will be more watchable than any previous D&D movie crap we've seen so far)

2. Not happy with the lack of reference to Ed Greenwood. This is shockingly and openly a slap in the face.

3. Happy with Waterdeep.

4. Happy with gnome, not happy with half-dragon. Try to get 'humans of the Realms' right before you jump to the two races that have next to no facetime in the Realms...


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Not really happy with "a warrior and his band of mystical creatures – including a half-dragon and a cunning gnome". It could be a bad description of a cool ensemble cast. It sounds more the heroic lead warrior and his band of wacky comic relief sidekicks. Probably with some kind of magical adviser.
Which I never liked when it was a common fantasy move trope and works even less well with D&D.

Sovereign Court

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If they actually pull off a Guardians of the Galaxy in Faerun, I'll be really happy.

Sovereign Court

Hama wrote:
If they actually pull off a Guardians of the Galaxy in Faerun, I'll be really happy.

For that you need an 70's/80's mixed tape. If they do that, I'll be happy. Throw those idiotic medieval flutes and lutes to the garbage I say - just throw some good classic rock hits in there and it will be fine.

...just don't dance to it like A Knight's Tale... I still cringe at that.


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Best D&D movie ever is "The Gamers 2 - Dorkness Rising".

Too bad the Pathfinder one wasn't as good... :(

Sovereign Court

wait... are we sure this "D&D movie gets its director" announcement isn't just an April Fool's joke?


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Ok some questions (mainly in jest):

-when will they announce that Jeremy Irons will be cast as the magical advisor dude and/or the main villain?

-when will the rumor start that Sean Connery is coming out of retirement to play Elminster in a cameo.

-will Sean Bean be cast to play a guy that dies in the opening credits?

-will they announce that Zach Snyder is coming in as a "script advisor"?

-please tell us that Vin Diesel will be the voice of one of the main characters animal companions.

-is the movie score to be done entirely by German power metal band Powerwolf?

Sovereign Court

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Molten Dragon wrote:

Ok some questions (mainly in jest):

-when will they announce that Jeremy Irons will be cast as the magical advisor dude and/or the main villain?

Heh, I CAN FEEL YOUR RAGEEEE STSTSTSTSTST

Molten Dragon wrote:
-when will the rumor start that Sean Connery is coming out of retirement to play Elminster in a cameo.

That would be AWESOME

Molten Dragon wrote:
-will Sean Bean be cast to play a guy that dies in the opening credits?

Too much money. Would be funny though.

Molten Dragon wrote:
-will they announce that Zach Snyder is coming in as a "script advisor"?

Just no.

Molten Dragon wrote:
-please tell us that Vin Diesel will be the voice of one of the main characters animal companions.

That'd be cool.

Molten Dragon wrote:
-is the movie score to be done entirely by German power metal band Powerwolf?

Haven't heard of them

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I think I would actually like Vin Diesel as a script advisor.

And Stephen Colbert as an elf.


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It would be awesome if they chose any power metal band for the soundtrack.


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Caineach wrote:
It would be awesome if they chose any power metal band for the soundtrack.

That would be fun. I only chose the band I did because I had been listening to them on the way back from lunch.

Remember the movie Kull the Conqueror from the 90s staring whats-his-face? That had a metal inspired soundtrack.


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Quote:
please tell us that Vin Diesel will be the voice of one of the main characters animal companions.

The original article said that the main warrior character was a "Vin Diesel" type. Which is a code phrase for "We want Vin Diesel." Dude is, of course, a massive D&D fan but that doesn't mean he'll sign up if the money and script aren't good enough.

Quote:
Too much money. Would be funny though.

If SEAN BEAN is too expensive for this movie, I think it's going to be in trouble. Bean is an excellent supporting actor, but he's not a lead for movies and he doesn't really cost that much.


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Okay okay. Sean Bean needs to be the wise aged paladin who sends Vin Diesel and his wise cracking gnome friend off on the adventure. Paladin Bean will die in the second act when Jeremy Irons' evil henchmen raid the village looking for Vin Diesel. The henchmen are all singing "All we need is blood" by Powerwolf when they raid.

Sound good??


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I've watched movies much worse than that and wished the licensed D&D movies had reached the same level of production. :P


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Captain Kuro wrote:
My bigger concern is if it will FEEL like a game of D&D and still be a good movie, which has been a stumbling block for previous D&D movies.

That's a tough bar to reach. Everyone's game 'feels' quite different. I REALLY want the movie to 'feel' like we play now, which is more LOTR/Hobbit feel to it... and not 'feel' like we did in high school, which was more 'Army of Darkness/Your Highness' level of character development.

Both styles are legitimate 'D&D games'... but VASTLY different movies....

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

2. Not happy with the lack of reference to Ed Greenwood. This is shockingly and openly a slap in the face.

Meh.. I'm sure he'll get the 'inspired by characters created by....' tagline in the credits much like all the superhero movies do with their inspirations.

Honestly, I REALLY dislike Ed Greenwoods writing. I love his setting. I love the world he created... but his actual novels are pretty bad. I'm not really sure what he would bring to a 'movie' that hasn't already been laid out in all the setting descriptions that are already written.

That's the thing about this movie. The setting already exists. The places, people, locations.... they're already out there for anyone to create with. Just like DMs have been doing for decades.

They just need to move the parts into a serviceable order.

NOT a fan of half-dragons... and Gnomes are drastically underused in the realms. I... realy don't know what they will do with them. PART of me is excited to find out, part of me thinks they should have stuck with the traditional core races that the FR setting used ALL the time. Elves, dwarves, humans, half-elves, halfings... The extra things are fun for players to be different... but there wasn't a lot written for them.

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I just hope it doesn't take itself too seriously. A lot of the fun of D&D are the bad puns and referring to other games and genre stories.

I also hope it emphasizes teamwork, with everyone having a unique role in the party and contributing in their own way. Interesting combos would be fun, too.


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SmiloDan wrote:

I just hope it doesn't take itself too seriously. A lot of the fun of D&D are the bad puns and referring to other games and genre stories.

I also hope it emphasizes teamwork, with everyone having a unique role in the party and contributing in their own way. Interesting combos would be fun, too.

That's part of what I'm dreading with the "warrior and his band of mystical creatures" thing. That it'll be the star and his sidekicks.

Maybe not too seriously, but at the same time respectfully? Plenty of humor is fine, but if it's laughing at the genre, that's not going to work, unless they go full on parody/comedy.

Since everyone keeps referencing Guardians of the Galaxy, that was funny, but it still took its premise seriously.


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I still believe that Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are the best D&D movies we'll ever get. They were serious, they felt epic, yet there was also a lot of humor and fun to be had in it.

I like to see Fun people put in serious situations. If the whole world is a joke/parody... then I lose interest pretty fast.


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SmiloDan wrote:

I just hope it doesn't take itself too seriously. A lot of the fun of D&D are the bad puns and referring to other games and genre stories.

I also hope it emphasizes teamwork, with everyone having a unique role in the party and contributing in their own way. Interesting combos would be fun, too.

I agree. I think a couple of things need to happen if they want this movie to be remotely successful.

The main character needs to be relatable by people who know nothing or care nothing about dnd proper.

Look at guardians of the galaxy. Star lord is immediately presented in a relatable way, shown to be human with his own relatable quirks and flaws. Even if you are not a fan of comics or sci-fi, you understood the star lord character.

The other characters in GotG fell in to place. (Well with the exception of the green skin girl who I found forgettable.)

Or you can make a movie where the characters are more cartooney in nature. Here I'm thinking of the dwarf character in the first dnd movie. Might work for a three stooges movie, but plainly misfired in the dnd movie.

Now, with all that said, how you do that in a dnd movie is a challenge. An even moderately well written script with relatable characters I think will be key


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These are my six coppers, from the perspective of a film producer. Take them or leave them. :)

I think there are a few qualifiers that some people will want, and others will not.

- Doesn't take itself too seriously.
- Lone hero vs. party.
- "Rule system" vs. living world.
- Classic tropes. Drow. Beholders. Half-elves. Grumpy drunk dwarves. Raging barbarians.

Lord of the Rings takes itself seriously. It is never a joke to itself. It's never campy. It may be silly...and even goofy, but never campy or tongue in cheek, or self-aware. Jeremy Irons with his over-theatricality in the earlier D&D movies. Batman TV from yesteryear. Even Deadpool's breaking of the 4th wall. Those are all examples of camp. Some worked, others did not.

Honestly, if the D&D movies are self-aware, and make fun of gamers, or gaming, or any of those tropes, it will bomb. They will not go over well with a large audience, and with a budget like this, it'd be bad. So the likely-hood is it may have some nudge nudge wink wink references, but hopefully not too many.

A film like this is tough from an ensemble cast. So you will end up with a central hero, with side-kicks and love interests and foils. This will not be A Game of Thrones, with a dozen leads, all interesting. You will have one guy. Likely a physical fighter (he becomes visually fun to watch as he does crazy stunts, and he's direct, not indirect like a rogue), and I could see him having "a little magic". That'd be an easy McGuffin to lead into the second film. "Why's he do that thing with the powers, mom? I don't know honey, I guess we'll have to come back and see the next one to find out."

Rule system vs. living world. Do they sound like they are idiots playing a game? Is the script written with a lot of esoteric dialogue? In other words, will only gamers understand if they mention wizards vs. sorcerers, demons vs. devils, halberds and broadswords and great-swords and katanas and rogues and...all of these are words we take for granted, because we are IN the group that uses them. People outside the group don't know WTF they are. So these should be avoided at all costs. A really good example of doing this wrong is when the main character defined clerical magic vs. arcane magic in the first D&D movie. Gag. We all hated it. You never see that in the Hobbit, or A Game of Thrones, and for very good reason.

The tropes will be tough to get away from, it sounds like, but they may be the death of this. This SHOULD NOT be a story with weird raced heroes...again, because pop culture (my wife, your dad, your niece, etc) won't get into a half-dragon vampire warlock tearing it up. They can't identify with them. They want humans. And it sounds like they have the main character, AND THAT'S IT as human so far. Bad, bad choice. That will make the film suffer in a worldwide audience.

Guardians of the Galaxy had one human and a band of mutant alien miscreants, but that worked because that's what they were in the comics. It has failed more times than not in fantasy.

Which we don't want it to suffer. Because if it suffers, it is less likely to get sequels made, and even more importantly have other films by other production houses that are similar made.

Case in point: a $100M D&D film might do okay. A $100M fantasy film with no IP that we are familiar with (IP's are Intellectual properties; i.e. Tranformers, Hunger games, Lord of the Rings, etc) will fail 95% of the time even if it is absolutely brilliant. Take Edge of Tomorrow. A brilliant script, with excellent action, and Tom Cruise delivering quite well, actually, and Emily Blunt nailing it. And even though it made it's money back ($370M+ on a $178M budget) it was considered a failure by the public, by the media, and by the studios. Three other films were cancelled in pre-production because of that films "failure". All because there was no IP to "lure in the masses". It's why studios do re-boots, sequels and tent-pole films like Star Wars, Bond, Marvel, DC and every teen book ever into films; they have audiences pre-built in.

The best model I have seen for a successful D&D type movie is actually the mummy. Funny. Fun. Definitely a band of unlikely heroes. Thief, warrior, intellectual (wizard). Most of us don't even recognize it as such, but it is quintessential D&D, and quintessential doing a blockbuster film the right way. :)


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SmiloDan wrote:


Or you can make a movie where the characters are more cartooney in nature. Here I'm thinking of the dwarf character in the first dnd movie. Might work for a three stooges movie, but plainly misfired in the dnd movie.

I'll have you know, that dwarf was the best part ABOUT that show. He's pretty much the only characer I remember.

mittean wrote:
Honestly, if the D&D movies are self-aware, and make fun of gamers, or gaming, or any of those tropes, it will bomb. They will not go over well with a large audience, and with a budget like this, it'd be bad. So the likely-hood is it may have some nudge nudge wink wink references, but hopefully not too many.

Agreed. The Gamers were great movies, but when we watched them at parties, there are always a couple of wives or newbies looking around because they don't get the jokes.

Also, people are REALLY sensitive these days, it's certainly not worth insulting and alienating your core audience with jokes that the general public wouldn't even understand.

mittean wrote:


A film like this is tough from an ensemble cast. So you will end up with a central hero, with side-kicks and love interests and foils. This will not be A Game of Thrones, with a dozen leads, all interesting. You will have one guy. Likely a physical fighter (he becomes visually fun to watch as he does crazy stunts, and he's direct, not indirect like a rogue), and I could see him having "a little magic". That'd be an easy McGuffin to lead into the second film. "Why's he do that thing with the powers, mom? I don't know honey, I guess we'll have to come back and see the next one to find out."

I'm having a really hard time THINKING of a true 'ensemble' cast in a movie. I'm sure there's a few... but i'm drawing a blank. In almost every movie there is the 'main hero' and then a few sidekicks or allies that help them do their 'heroes journey'. Even in Star Wars, Han and Leia are hardly sidekick material... but they're there to push Luke to fulfill destiny. On TV it's a bit easier because you have more time to flesh everyone out... but even the A-team (my go-to for ensemble casts...) The movie focused on Face and Hannible the most. Lord of the Rings? Frodo was the hero with a few others helping him or buying him time... There's always a 'main character'.

mittean wrote:


Rule system vs. living world. Do they sound like they are idiots playing a game? Is the script written with a lot of esoteric dialogue? In other words, will only gamers understand if they mention wizards vs. sorcerers, demons vs. devils, halberds and broadswords and great-swords and katanas and rogues and...all of these are words we take for granted, because we are IN the group that uses them. People outside the group don't know WTF they are. So these should be avoided at all costs. A really good example of doing this wrong is when the main character defined clerical magic vs. arcane magic in the first D&D movie. Gag. We all hated it. You never see that in the Hobbit, or A Game of Thrones, and for very good reason.

I disagree with this. D&D suffers from being almost synonymous with 'Fantasy'. There have been so many pretenders that have lived in that shadow... that I feel a D&D movie needs to be MORE than just a 'fantasy' movie.

We NEED to see a cleric/Arcane divide. We NEED to see elves and dwarves and halflings. I still want the main character to be Human... or at most Half-elf... but LOTR and Hobbit has shown that casts made of mixed races can and do work.

Sci-fi and Fantasy worlds all have their own set of rules. The audience goes in EXPECTING this, even if they don't realize they expect this. Star Wars has lightsabers and the Force... Star Trek has Transporters... Tolkien has Wizards that don't solve all the problems and sometimes come back from the dead... Harry Potter have their wand-dependency... Throwing a little exposition about how gods grant healing and arcane casters don't get them is fundamental to the 'world'

The key to making a movie Dungeons and Dragons... is the rules. At least the fluff. I'd never advocate for delving too deeply into the crunch other then as a few easter eggs... but calling someone a rogue isn't more off-putting then calling them a 'scruffy looking nerf-herder'. Setting it in the Realms is fantastic for me. It automatically makes things familiar.

That was one of the issues I had with the earlier movies. They didn't feel any different than a 2nd rate Hercules episode or DragonHeart movie. Great movie... but not D&D.

mittean wrote:


The tropes will be tough to get away from, it sounds like, but they may be the death of this. This SHOULD NOT be a story with weird raced heroes...again, because pop culture (my wife, your dad, your niece, etc) won't get into a half-dragon vampire warlock tearing it up. They can't identify with them. They want humans. And it sounds like they have the main character, AND THAT'S IT as human so far. Bad, bad choice. That will make the film suffer in a worldwide audience.

Guardians of the Galaxy had one human and a band of mutant alien miscreants, but that worked because that's what they were in the comics. It has failed more times than not in fantasy.

Again, I go back to LotR. 2 humans (one dies) 4 hobbits, dwarf and Elf. And whatever Gandalf was... ;)

I never heard any complaints from anyone about weird races. Strange races are the key to D&D and Pathfinder... just look at any list of Iconics.

That said, I totally agree on Half-dragon vampire warlocks... There is 'non-human'.... and then there are 'Goofy weird crap'. Even the gamers I know don't care for the Dragon-kin races.

mittean wrote:


The best model I have seen for a successful D&D type movie is actually the mummy. Funny. Fun. Definitely a band of unlikely heroes. Thief, warrior, intellectual (wizard). Most of us don't even recognize it as such, but it is quintessential D&D, and quintessential doing a blockbuster film the right way. :)

YES... We were playing Ravenloft:1890's when that came out, and we totally recognize it as a D&D game. (Again, 1890's had no non-humans. Hate what happened to that franchise. THAT should have been the next Indiana Jones franchise. Back off from Mummies, and just have crazy adventures...

I still remember when Fellowship of the Ring came out, and my parents FINALLY understood what the appeal of my Saturday games were all about. That movie was a perfect representation of what our AD&D adventures were like. And that franchise was insanely successful and won massive Oscars.

If they are able to somehow merge LOTR and Guardians fo the Galaxy... It should be a massive hit. If they dumb it down and make it too generic? Then it'll probably bomb hard.


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So they keep talking about it...

Not much detail here

Or here

...but what exactly is the movie going to be about?

DL? FR? Greyhawk?

Rob Letterman isn't a stellar director but apparently his D&D Movie Franchise pitch swayed the WB execs making this decision.

So many ways this movie can be botched. Is there any real hope?


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I actually watched Book of Vile Darkness on Syfy once, I think. Not nearly as bad as I was expecting, especially after the first movie.

Main Character was... actually alright. His journey across the alignment axis was a decent idea, but as with everything else in these movies, hasty and shallow.

The rest of his party ranged from bad to not awful. Bug Swarm guy was cool to watch, but pretty Generic Evil. Assassin was forgettable, Barbarian had some backstory at least, and Love Interest was a love interest. She got a sex scene, so that was nice, I guess.

Main villain talking through those two thralls was pretty cool. The idea that the book had to be written in the blood of a holy knight was appropriately over-the-top for an artifact. The little dead girl was animated strangely well for such a low budget film, then the laughable animated armor showed up and I remembered what I was watching.

They could have done worse. I don't know if there's ever any hope except in the theoretical sense that, given infinite time and resources, a million monkeys on a million typewriters will eventually give us an acceptable D&D movie.


The whole rights situation seems to me to be the perfect explanation to why intellectual property is a bad idea. Seriously, the fact that both interests own parts of the whole means no decent movie gets done? Where there could have been several, with budgets and with a hope of success?

Good thing we have intellectual property laws.


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Quote:

...but what exactly is the movie going to be about?

DL? FR? Greyhawk?

Rob Letterman isn't a stellar director but apparently his D&D Movie Franchise pitch swayed the WB execs making this decision.

So many ways this movie can be botched. Is there any real hope?

It's set in the Forgotten Realms and will involve the Yawning Portal Inn, so at least part of the film will be set in Waterdeep.

They're also looking at the shared universe possibilities, so we may see DRAGONLANCE, DARK SUN, PLANESCAPE etc as future ideas. But right now it's going to be FORGOTTEN REALMS.


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I don't know how this is evidence that intellectual property is bad, rather that it is evidence to make sure you do your research before selling your rights to sketchy folks. ANd to clearly lay out every possible contigency in a contract, including clear methods of termination if one company doesn't live up to their bargain.

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Shouldn't D&D be a TV series instead of a movie? It's very nature is episodic. Unless it's a one-shot. :-P One shots tend to have less developed characterization in my experience, anyways.

But the only "D&D" movie I've seen was that Dragonlance cartoon that was half hand-drawn and half computer-animated, and thus totally uneven.


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Exactly, MMCJawa.

It absolutely lends itself to TV, but the way the execs are reading the IP likely lends to them feeling its more LoTR/Hobbit, less firefly. (one success, one fail. From a studio's perspective). Yes Game of Thrones is successful, but WAY more popular (especially in pop culture, not niche), and many, many other "fantasy" tv shows are total fails.

Grand Lodge

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There are over a hundreds of thousands table top, PbP, VTT, etc. going on every day that are better than any D&D franchise movie. Marvel movies and Star Wars are already dominating the box office.

Ask yourself, do you really want a Hollywood director/producer to make a cool D&D movie staring Chris Pratt and Scarlett Johansson? (On second thought, yes. Yes, I do.) ABC made a decent D&D series called "The Legend of the Seeker" based "The Sword of Truth" novels. It wasn't great, but fun, easy watch.

RPG's are like local artists. The better ones are usually anonymous people working at their craft for its own sake and trying to make millions of dollars. Check out Twitch and Youtube. There are some incredible GM's/DM's out there making art come to life through improv and dice.


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Werthead wrote:
Quote:

...but what exactly is the movie going to be about?

DL? FR? Greyhawk?

Rob Letterman isn't a stellar director but apparently his D&D Movie Franchise pitch swayed the WB execs making this decision.

So many ways this movie can be botched. Is there any real hope?

It's set in the Forgotten Realms and will involve the Yawning Portal Inn, so at least part of the film will be set in Waterdeep.

They're also looking at the shared universe possibilities, so we may see DRAGONLANCE, DARK SUN, PLANESCAPE etc as future ideas. But right now it's going to be FORGOTTEN REALMS.

Thanks Wert.

Still I'm afraid this will be another 7-on-a-d20. Or maybe worse.

As long as it isn't campy or GOT-"gritty" I'll go see it. Looks like we won't have long to wait.


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to tell the truth, the best D&D show (that was actually based on a D&D campaign, though the world was translated into a Japanese RPG called Sword World) was Lodoss War.

For the US, I actually loved the D&D cartoon.

It's a little to 80s for now, and probably too focused on what kids would like, but keeping the sense of that in mind, that you need to cater to an audience BEYOND the niche group of Roleplayers, is probably a good idea in regards to the movie.


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GreyWolfLord wrote:

to tell the truth, the best D&D show (that was actually based on a D&D campaign, though the world was translated into a Japanese RPG called Sword World) was Lodoss War.

For the US, I actually loved the D&D cartoon.

It's a little to 80s for now, and probably too focused on what kids would like, but keeping the sense of that in mind, that you need to cater to an audience BEYOND the niche group of Roleplayers, is probably a good idea in regards to the movie.

I've seen an episode or two of that cartoon at ??? someone's house a couple of years back. Given that it is hemmed in by:

- 30 minute runtime (minus commercial air time),
- Introducing a plot and resolving it in said time,
- Can be watched out of order (mostly? entirely?),
- Has to appeal to a younger audience,
- And so forth (like, it's a low budget cartoon)

I declare it to be surprisingly good. I need to look the rest of those up sometime.


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I'm holding out for a kobold presence. If they can slip in a Pun-Pun reference—even a tiny one, like some "Pun-Pun Rulez" bathroom graffiti in a background shot—I'll even forgive the setting. Never really liked Forgotten Realms, personally.


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Sissyl wrote:

The whole rights situation seems to me to be the perfect explanation to why intellectual property is a bad idea. Seriously, the fact that both interests own parts of the whole means no decent movie gets done? Where there could have been several, with budgets and with a hope of success?

Good thing we have intellectual property laws.

If intellectual property laws didn't exist, it's doubtful that any movie would be made at all, decent or otherwise.


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Scott Betts wrote:
Sissyl wrote:

The whole rights situation seems to me to be the perfect explanation to why intellectual property is a bad idea. Seriously, the fact that both interests own parts of the whole means no decent movie gets done? Where there could have been several, with budgets and with a hope of success?

Good thing we have intellectual property laws.

If intellectual property laws didn't exist, it's doubtful that any movie would be made at all, decent or otherwise.

Yeah absolutely Scott.

I kind of find her mode of thought here puzzling.


The only half way decent D&D movie I ever saw was the animated one about Dragonlance. Again, I said half way decent, not good.

Will they ever learn that they just can't turn games into movies? It has never worked in the past really.

Personally though, if it was done well, I have always wanted a M:tG movie about something like The Rath Cycle or The Brothers War, or at least Arena.

For D&D, I don't know. From what someone earlier said (I forgot to hit reply) it will have anthropomorphic dragons and therefore that tells me Dragonlance or "Krynn" unless they mean the Dragonborn race. If the latter, I wonder which version of dragonborn they will be. 3.5's version where they are worshipers of Bahamut that build an egg cacoon thing and are turned into dragonborn, or 4th and 5th where they are just another race.

This will likely be just a throw away movie with a bad story, bad acting, and bad visuals but just exists to hold the license or, as I remember one Dr Johnny Fever explaining it, intentionally taking it as a loss as for the tax write-off.

Edit: Whoah now wait a minute. Did the article seriously say that the script is from CHAINMAIL? Not D&D but Chainmail. It also called Chainmail obscure. Come on now guys, really? Do some research.


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GreyWolfLord wrote:

to tell the truth, the best D&D show (that was actually based on a D&D campaign, though the world was translated into a Japanese RPG called Sword World) was Lodoss War.

For the US, I actually loved the D&D cartoon.

It's a little to 80s for now, and probably too focused on what kids would like, but keeping the sense of that in mind, that you need to cater to an audience BEYOND the niche group of Roleplayers, is probably a good idea in regards to the movie.

I have to admit my favorite thing about the D&D cartoon was probably the Jerry Goldsmith score. I tried watching it recently and while there are parts of it that hold up and a few episodes that are very good overall it's pretty mediocre. I loved it too when I was 12 - 13 years old though. I'd like to see what a decent production company would be able to do now with something along the quality of JLU or YOUNG JUSTICE except Fantasy based.

I'm someone who hates the Realms as a setting so Im not the target audience but if it's done well enough I'll be up to watch almost anything.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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I really wish they would do a movie based on Azure Bonds.

It has a small party (fighter, thief (I mean bard!), magic-user, and you'll never guess!) made up of great characters lead by a pretty woman for the movie poster, it has an anthropomorphic dragon-like character, it has an evil conspiracy (a thieves guild, an evil cult, a witch, a lich, and a what-in-the-Nine-Hells???), it has a couple big fights with a dragon, it features some famous NPCs in minor roles (Elminster, King Azoun, etc.), an almost royal wedding, some minor plane hopping, a journey across the Sea of Shining Stars region of Faerun, and an examination of alignment.

Plus shiny blue tattoos!


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All I can say at this point is, I'm very curious to see what a high budget name brand D&D movie ends up looking like. If we get something on the same level as other Hasbro properties such as Battleship, G.I.Joe and Transformers, I'll be psyched.

If we get yet another camel-is-a-horse-built-by-commitee piece where the writers and director are trying to make a straight faced D&D movie but the producers keep increasing the campiness because that's what their idea of what a D&D nerd wants, I'll be very disappointed but completely unsurprised.

God, I didn't mean to sound so pessimistic when I started this post. #buzzkill


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Hitdice wrote:
God, I didn't mean to sound so pessimistic when I started this post. #buzzkill

My work here is done!

In all seriousness...

Lord of the Rings showed that the mass audience can go for elves and dwarves and sword fights with orcs and the like... but I fear the Dungeons and Dragons stereotypes are what seem to be informing the decisions made by the Powers That Be.

Consider that a D&D movie does not haveto be Lord of the Rings-I could go for Big Hero 6 or Guardians of the Galaxy just as easily- but it does need to know whether it's fish or fowl.

Consider the recent Hobbit films: Big budget, everything LOOKED good, but it was a confused mess of taking itself way too seriously mixed with essentially juvenile humor- it couldn't decide who it was for.

Sovereign Court

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They should really make shackled city, age of worms or savage tide into movies. Or into mini series.


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I think the decision not to do novels was down to Hasbro's insistence that the movie has to tie into the current books and help shift some more of them, so it'll probably be set in the "present day" of FR 5th Edition.

Apparently there was one comment from the studio that they saw the tone of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was something they should aspire to: dramatic and serious (it's not an out-and-out comedy) but with a knowing, even slightly meta sense of humour.

Which is great if it works, but will be terrible if it doesn't.


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Hitdice wrote:

All I can say at this point is, I'm very curious to see what a high budget name brand D&D movie ends up looking like. If we get something on the same level as other Hasbro properties such as Battleship, G.I.Joe and Transformers, I'll be psyched.

Oh god those are my worst case scenario.

My biggest concern though is that the directors last work was Goosebumps. Which was less about adapting Goosebumps into a kid friendly horror movie, but rather a meta comedy referencing the books. I don't mind some Guardians of the Galaxy level humor but please oh god please don't let it become a portal fantasy with a group of gamers being put into the Forgotten Realms....


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MMCJawa wrote:
Hitdice wrote:

All I can say at this point is, I'm very curious to see what a high budget name brand D&D movie ends up looking like. If we get something on the same level as other Hasbro properties such as Battleship, G.I.Joe and Transformers, I'll be psyched.

Oh god those are my worst case scenario.

My biggest concern though is that the directors last work was Goosebumps. Which was less about adapting Goosebumps into a kid friendly horror movie, but rather a meta comedy referencing the books. I don't mind some Guardians of the Galaxy level humor but please oh god please don't let it become a portal fantasy with a group of gamers being put into the Forgotten Realms....

Come on, 6 young teenagers at an amusement park get on a roller coaster that starts going through a tunnel with the sign Yawning Portal at the entrance. They emerge to find themselves in a fantasy land being chased by 5 headed dragon that is actually a lesser deity, but for some reason can never catch them. Every 15 minutes they think they are about to go home when something happens and they have to start a new quest.

Its such a great idea it will spawn TV spinoffs, maybe even a cartoon series.


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Hama wrote:
They should really make shackled city, age of worms or savage tide into movies. Or into mini series.

Or into book compilations!

*Cries*


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Quote:
please don't let it become a portal fantasy with a group of gamers being put into the Forgotten Realms....

I can't find the quote now, but I think that someone from Hasbro said this wasn't the case.


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Yawning Portal Inn, Waterdeep, treasure . . . Undermountain?

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