Dragonlance Joe Manganelio is Writing the D&D Movie? And Is it DRAGONLANCE?

Actor Joe Manganelio (from True Blood, Magic Mike, and more) appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast this week, and reported that he is co-writing a movie script. While he doesn't namecheck D&D, his description sounds a lot like it, and he did recently meet up with WotC. "Last year with a playwright I went to Carnegie Mellon with, I actually made a draft of a film, and now we're talking to all the right parties. I had a two-day creative summit with the Wizards of the Coast...we had like a two-day summit about where the movie could go or TV series, products, synergy, the whole deal… Obviously, there's a spectacle. There's dragons breathing fire and lightning. But what makes a great superhero or fantasy movie is the human aspect. It's got to be about something. We root for those characters in Game of Thrones. Fellowship of the Ring was about friendship, this undying love for your friends. That's something everyone can identify with. When a movie is about something human and real emotionally people are going to want to see. Then you get some dragons breathing fire, and hey, I'm in." And to add fuel to the fire, he even tweets a photo of a DRAGONLANCE script! (thanks to darjr for the scoop)

The D&D movie is being directed by Rob Letterman (Goosebumps, Monsters vs. Aliens, Shark Tale), produced by Rob Lee (The Lego Movie, How To Train Your Dragon) and was/maybe still is being penned by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans). Previous reports indicated that "This new Dungeons & Dragons will be a Guardians of the Galaxy-tone movie in a Tolkien-like universe. Because when you think of all the Hobbit movies and The Lord of the Rings, they have an earnestness to them, and to see something fun, a Raiders romp inside that world, I feel is something the audience has not seen before." and that "producers are eyeing a Vin Diesel-type for the film’s lead characters".

Of course, we also know that Vin Diesel plays D&D, as does Joe Manganiello.

So is he co-writing the D&D movie or is that something else? To add to the rumour pile, he tweeted an image of a DRAGONLANCE script (shown below). Of course, he could be playing with us. But maybe there is something in it? His name isn't that script, nor is David Leslie Johnson's. Let the speculation begin!

Manganelio at WotC in February

Manganelio tweeted this image



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[ProtoClone]

I agree with using an established setting...however, I don't think adapting a novel is the way to go, especially one as beloved as Weis and Hickman's original Dragonlance novels. For one, they'll have to make changes adapting to a new medium and that'll piss off the fans. Meanwhile, Dragonlance has a TON of characters to introduce and a two hour movie just isn't going to cut it to establish Tanis, Raistlin, Tasslehoff, Sturm, and Goldmoon alone (more or less the main characters), not counting Flint, Caramon, Kitiara, Riverwind, Fizban, Tika...plus the world itself, the antagonists, etc. IF they want to adapt that, they should go with a limited run TV series (10-13 episode series like Game of Thrones or various Netflix shows).

Well fans of ASIF have been rather understandable of the rewrites HBO has made because of the girth of the series.

Not too worried.

 

[Henry]

Dragonlance had one other problem in my mind - it is VERY similar to the Lord of the Rings books. At best, it's a strong homage from which multiple parallels may be made; at worst, it's a blatant copy (depending on whom you ask). The heavy reliance on song, the retreating elves, the Dragonarmies led by an exiled deity, Fizban the more-than-he-seems wizard who disappears in the first act and comes back in his glory, the Sla-mori, a showdown in an abandoned dwarven city, the mythic item showing up at the time of greatest darkness, etc.

Now to Hollywood, this might sound quite safe; movie critics however may well tear it apart for that reason.

Much as I enjoyed Dragonlance, I was intoduced to it before Tolkien; when I got to read Tolkien years later, my first thought was "Holy Crap!" I never realized the similarities till then.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I agree with using an established setting...however, I don't think adapting a novel is the way to go, especially one as beloved as Weis and Hickman's original Dragonlance novels. For one, they'll have to make changes adapting to a new medium and that'll piss off the fans. Meanwhile, Dragonlance has a TON of characters to introduce and a two hour movie just isn't going to cut it to establish Tanis, Raistlin, Tasslehoff, Sturm, and Goldmoon alone (more or less the main characters), not counting Flint, Caramon, Kitiara, Riverwind, Fizban, Tika...plus the world itself, the antagonists, etc. IF they want to adapt that, they should go with a limited run TV series (10-13 episode series like Game of Thrones or various Netflix shows).

I'm don't see how it would be any harder than introducing the nine major characters in The Fellowship of the Ring. And Kitiara, although mentioned, doesn't actually make an appearance until the second book if I remember right.

 

[MechaPilot]

I just find it amazing how many people are psychic on this message board. The movie will be crap!

It's not about being psychic: it's about predictability based on a pattern of behavior. If the sun rises every day, you expect it to continue doing so.

 

[darjr]

I've heard (ha!) that the dragonlance movie as an audio play comes off much better. I haven't tried that but I want to.

 

[Corwin]

It's not about being psychic: it's about predictability based on a pattern of behavior. If the sun rises every day, you expect it to continue doing so.

Same sun everyday, AFAIK. *Who's* behavior are you saying is being predicted, exactly?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So do I, but that ship sailed forty years ago. Not all D&D worlds are Tolkienesque, but the core of the property is, and has been since the earliest days of the game.

If the movie is Dragonlance instead of Drizzt, that's about the best we can hope for, setting-wise. Not that that will matter unless they get a halfway decent writer on board. Is there any indication that this guy can write?

I get that, but for an original story, I'd rather have a less "generic" world, or one that shows off what a DnD world can be.

Game of Thrones works in part because it isn't super generic, but is close enough to be familiar.

Eberron, Dragonlance, or even Mystara, all have a lot of unique elements that audiences haven't already seen, but can also start in very familiar environs, and introduce what makes them unique as the story progresses.

And their fans are less obsessed with the details of the setting, and the potential for angry nerd rants about X Kingdom having the wrong fashion are much less likely.

All that said, a Dragonlance Chonicles project is potentially very cool. I just hope they don't try to "grimdark reimagining" it.

edit: a couple words. Bloody autocorrect.

 

[Hussar]

Maybe WotC should go the Marvel route and make their own movies until Disney buys them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using EN World mobile app

We could only be so lucky. I'd be a happy gamer if D&D hit that level of popularity.

 

[Rygar]

Dragonlance had one other problem in my mind - it is VERY similar to the Lord of the Rings books. At best, it's a strong homage from which multiple parallels may be made; at worst, it's a blatant copy (depending on whom you ask). The heavy reliance on song, the retreating elves, the Dragonarmies led by an exiled deity, Fizban the more-than-he-seems wizard who disappears in the first act and comes back in his glory, the Sla-mori, a showdown in an abandoned dwarven city, the mythic item showing up at the time of greatest darkness, etc.

Now to Hollywood, this might sound quite safe; movie critics however may well tear it apart for that reason.

Much as I enjoyed Dragonlance, I was intoduced to it before Tolkien; when I got to read Tolkien years later, my first thought was "Holy Crap!" I never realized the similarities till then.

Um...I'm going to have to disagree with you here.

1. There's pretty much no reliance on song in Dragonlance. There's a few poems, I think maybe one scene actually has Tas singing a song, and Goldmoon uses it to tell her story once. IIRC Tas's is the only one that's actually written out, and everyone else's is "X proceeded to sing about Y".

2. Everyone is retreating, not just Elves. Every single race is getting it's butt kicked.

3. In Lord of the Rings, the Elves aren't retreating, they're leaving. In Dragonlance the Elves are driven out of their homeland by an army that is actively trying to kill them.

4. The Dragonarmies aren't led by an exiled deity. She is very much a part of the pantheon and has a fairly high degree of support from her side of the pendeulum.

5. I'll give you Fizban as a Gandalfeque character, except Fizban is revealed to be a god and the majority of people who saw LOTR have no idea what Gandalf is because nothing is said. I'd bet the majority of people think he is a normal mortal.

6. Sla-mori is a secret path into the fortress where they plan to free the slaves. The Mines of Moria is a shortcut through a mountain they're forced to take. There's no similarity here beyond the fact that they're both dungeons, but then we could level that criticism at any media that includes a dungeon.

7. There's no showdown in an abandoned Dwarven city. If you're talking about Pax Tharkas, it's the exact opposite of abandoned. It's also not a Dwarven city. It's a citadel built by Elves and Dwarves as a sign of unity, and that's why Kith-Kanan the Elven king is buried beneath it. If you're talking about Thorbardin, the showdown occurs off-camera until you get the Lost Chronicles. If you're talking about Neraka, that is again the opposite of abandoned.

8. No mythic item shows up at a time of great darkness. A few fairly powerful ones are located, but Dragonlance doesn't solve its problems with mythic items. The Blue Crystal Staff is left behind in Xak Tsaroth, One of the two Dragonorbs is broken and the other one doesn't have a direct effect on the war, all of the legendary weapons are left behind (Wyrmslayer, Brightblade), and the Dragonlance doesn't actually play any part in the story aside from a couple mentions in Spring Dawning about the Dragonarmies being pushed back. Legend of Huma, sure, that's a fair statement. Chronicles it isn't.

 

[Oofta]

It's not about being psychic: it's about predictability based on a pattern of behavior. If the sun rises every day, you expect it to continue doing so.

So as far as we know:

• The production company of the previous movies (SweatPea) is not involved
• Neither the director nor the writers of the previous movies are involved
• WOTC had little input into the previous movies
• Basically nobody involved in the previous movies is involved in the new movie.
• The director and writers of the new movie have produced decent (if not blockbuster) movies.

Yet you assume that the new movie will be horrible. That's like saying a Batman & Robin was horrible so Batman Begins was doomed to the same fate.

Given a decent budget, a decent director and a compelling story it could be a good movie. Maybe it will be the next Battleship. Who knows.