Don Bluth Dragon's Lair Movie Kickstarter

[Kobold Catgirl]

Don Bluth and Gary Goldman are trying to fund a pitch video to get Dragon's Lair, the cult hit arcade game, made into an animated movie.

Don Bluth was the master behind The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time (spoilers), All Dogs Go To Heaven, Anastasia, An American Tail, Titan A.E. and a bunch of not-as-good movies. He hasn't done anything since the box office bomb Titan A.E., and I really want to see him make another film.

The kickstarter is struggling a little, perhaps due to some mistakes made with the marketing, but this is a movie that needs to be made. The world needs more hand-drawn animation. The world needs more Don Bluth.

Here's hoping it makes it.

[Turin the Mad]

Holy cr@p someone's pledged $7,500?! Must be nice to have such deep pockets. *Whistles enviously*

[Scythia]

Wasn't that a cartoon serial at one time as well?

[Kobold Catgirl]

Wikipedia says so.

[Kobold Catgirl]

And a $5 Reward Perk has been added! Damn, I really want all this stuff, but it's starting to look like nobody's going to get any of it.

[cmastah]

The kickstarter is only for the demo video to show to sponsors or something, he actually plans to raise $70,000,000. Why does he need 70 million to make this movie?! Who's he hiring, the Queen?

[Sissyl]

Repeat after me:

HAND.

DRAWN.

ANIMATION.

There is a very simple reason people don't do it anymore for longer movies. It costs. Just do the maths: 24 frames times 60 seconds is 1440 frames PER MINUTE. Sure, you can cut corners, like reusing backgrounds, rotoscoping, etc, but it's still a monstrous amount of work.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Actually, CG animation costs about the same. cmastah, I'd encourage you to take a good, long look at standard animated film budgets. ;)

Fun fact: The producers, Bluth, Goldman, Pomeroy, and the executive producers at Aurora mortgaged their homes collectively to complete The Secret of NIMH. The full cost of the film was roughly $6.385 million. And in case you're thinking that that's not very much, just like you might think Frozen is the highest-grossing animated film of all time, that calculates to $20 million in today's dollar standards. Which is still ridiculously low, really.

[feytharn]

Wikipedia puts 'The Princess and the Frog' on a $105,000,000 budget, so 70 million seem realistic.

[cmastah]

Wow, those costs are nightmarish. I actually thought of anime when I was thinking of lower costs, isn't that also hand drawn?

Plus, secret of NIMH is a very good example for why it should cost less (and I don't care how good Dragon's lair will be (and I'm sure it will be), it'll never be Secret of NIMH good, heh).

[John Woodford]

Anime made for TV doesn't tend to as high a frame count, unlike the stuff that's released in theaters (Studio Ghibli, e.g.).

[Kobold Catgirl]

Standards were different back when Secret of NIMH was made. I expect a major factor here, for instance, is the animator pay rate—the founding of Dreamworks meant a tremendous difference in wages for them (basically, up to an actually reasonable level).

Also, a new tier has been added. This one's a special tier, apparently. $200 for an original signed drawing from the pitch presentation.

[John Woodford]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Standards were different back when Secret of NIMH was made. I expect a major factor here, for instance, is the animator pay rate—the founding of Dreamworks meant a tremendous difference in wages for them (basically, up to an actually reasonable level).

Well, that too. Though I'm not sure how much of the modern budgets are also due to the studio habit of getting names to voice the leads. You figure Robin Williams didn't come cheap for the Aladdin movies, e.g.

[cmastah]

John Woodford wrote:

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Standards were different back when Secret of NIMH was made. I expect a major factor here, for instance, is the animator pay rate—the founding of Dreamworks meant a tremendous difference in wages for them (basically, up to an actually reasonable level).

Well, that too. Though I'm not sure how much of the modern budgets are also due to the studio habit of getting names to voice the leads. You figure Robin Williams didn't come cheap for the Aladdin movies, e.g.

Of all the roles you had to mention, what's the funny coincidence you would use Robin William's genie? :-P

He voiced that one for either a reduced pay or for free (I read something about that on wikipedia, it was on the condition that he doesn't get top billing in it. I think he was trying to do it as like charity work or something).

[John Woodford]

That was cool of him. It occurred to me after I posted, though, that I was conflating Disney's dubs of the Miyazaki films with the native House of Mouse stuff--it seems like they get a lot more name actors/actresses for the dubs.

[Kobold Catgirl]

For those who don't know, the kickstarter failed, but Don Bluth & Co are back with a vastly superior effort. Download for the pitch video is only $35 now, and you can get a digital "Art of Dragon's Lair" book for $50. Marketing is improved and the goal is lowered.

I don't know if flexible funding is such a smart move, but I guess it's once bitten, twice shy. Still, I'm excited. I hope we make it this time.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Robin Williams agreed to work for less on the condition that his name wasn't emphasized much—he didn't want to detract from his work on another movie coming out around the same time, but he really liked the idea of being animated. Disney actually broke their agreement and got sued for it, incidentally, which is why he didn't appear in the first sequel (they patched things up for King of Thieves).

That said, Robin Williams may have kickstarted the idea of celebrity VAs, but it's really taken off nowadays. It's very rare to see an animated movie come out without multiple famous pop singers/comedians/actors/whateveryoulike starring in it. Just look at the upcoming Moana and Kung Fu Panda 3, for instance.

It's not all bad. You can get some good talent in there. It can backfire pretty obnoxiously, though. For every Frozen you get five Underdogs.

[Kobold Catgirl]

It's the Final Countdown! Dragon's Lair is in its last 24 hours! Some great perks have been added throughout the campaign, so take a second look if you haven't already!

It's kind of inspiring that Don Bluth, at his age, remains dedicated to making at least one more movie. I really hope their pitch succeeds.