D&D Movie/TV New D&D Movie: July 23rd 2021

It's official - the new Dungeons & Dragons movie is coming, and it's coming in four years - July 23rd, 2021, as announced by Paramount.

We already know that the movie will be produced by the Lego Movie's Roy Lee, that it will be directed by Rob Letterman (Goosebumps, Monsters vs. Aliens, Shark Tale). Originally scripted by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans), it's now being written by Joe Manganelio, might be Dragonlance and then again might feature the Yawning Portal, and will adopt a Guardians of the Galaxy tone. Oh, and that we should take everything I just said with a pinch of salt as the movie appears have jumped from WB to Paramount at some point in the process!

 

[CapnZapp]

They sure aren't doing anything quickly with dnd anymore...

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[Dannyalcatraz]

It just won't be real without Damodar....

[video=youtube;WVjE-WdGm2Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVjE-WdGm2Q[/video]

Damodar was too sexy
He was too sexy
He was too sexy for a helmet!

(That was also a nice little turn on the catwalk.)
View attachment 92179

 

[Oofta]

One of my favorite images from DragonLance was the portrait of The Death of Sturm

What? No spoiler alert!

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Random fact. New Line's movie in 2000 grossed $33 million worldwide. So about the same amount as the North American RPG market in one year.

Yep, that's why WotC keeps trying to break out of the "we develop, write, and publish D&D" box. Of course they likely make way more money on MtG. Even a complete turkey like that movie grossed more. Of course what it actually netted WotC after all the studios, promos, and actors got paid, who knows? I don't think it'll work but they keep trying and have for a long time.

We got the D&D Cartoon back in the '80s because Gygax went to Hollywood (where he promptly developed a coke habit and the folks he left in charge back in Lake Geneva burned through money until he returned, got divorced, got forced out, and so on). For many years the various D&D-themed novels sold quite briskly. I kind of wonder why WotC hasn't partnered with some up and coming YA author to do D&D themed novels. I also wonder why there isn't a wide-release D&D-based CPRG. I suspect that the costs for one of those just doesn't work out but the YA series seems much lower risk.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Drow are not really based on Norse mythology. If you are talking about the mention of Dark Elves in the Eddas, that is quite the leap besides the names being the same.

My understanding is that Gygax got the name and the rough concept of underground dwelling from the Eddas. It's not clear if the "drow" there are dwarves or elves that live underground. The name "drow" and "troll" are close relatives as well. However, the "evil demon-worshipping elves who look like black and white photographic negatives" was something Gygax devised in the Giants module.

 

[DM Howard]

My understanding is that Gygax got the name and the rough concept of underground dwelling from the Eddas. It's not clear if the "drow" there are dwarves or elves that live underground. The name "drow" and "troll" are close relatives as well. However, the "evil demon-worshipping elves who look like black and white photographic negatives" was something Gygax devised in the Giants module.

Right, I understand that Gygax came up with the Drow in the Against the Giants series, but I think it strange to say that the Elves of the Eddas (Dwarves by another name) translate to the inspiration for underground-dwelling Tolkien Dark Elves. That's all, no biggy!

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Right, I understand that Gygax came up with the Drow in the Against the Giants series, but I think it strange to say that the Elves of the Eddas (Dwarves by another name) translate to the inspiration for underground-dwelling Tolkien Dark Elves. That's all, no biggy!

Well in a way they sort of were, but the way is indirect, so I guess it depends on how you feel the influence plays out.

The idea of alfar were the inspiration for elves in JRRT, though he obviously altered them a lot. Gygax was personally inspired more by authors such as Moorcock, Leiber, Howard, Vance, de Camp and Pratt, and, especially, Poul Anderson, than JRRT---he stated this quite clearly, and having read most of the cited works, I agree. For instance, much of Giants is a direct lift of the first Harold Shea novel by de Camp and Pratt with elaboration. These authors had elf-like characters in various mixes appear, having drawn on the Eddas, Celtic myth, Shakespeare, and the Matters of Britain, France, and Rome themselves. Like these authors, D&D authors starting with Gygax borrowed and remixed heavily to suit their purposes, and seemed to have been pretty casual about things, unsurprising in the pre-internet days.

Evidently "blacker than pitch" and "lives underground" were from the Eddas, though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drow_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)

Gygax's net was so wide he made up monsters from packs of dinosaurs which had strange made up critters in them. Hence the bulette, rust monster, and owlbear.

 

[Parmandur]

They sure aren't doing anything quickly with dnd anymore...

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Slow and steady wins the race. Nothing to be gained by being hasty.

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[Wulffolk]

What? No spoiler alert!

I am sorry. Too soon? ,-)

 

[Elderbrain]

There is still time to get Michael Bay to direct...

Oh, GOD NO!!! Michael Bay ruined the Transformers movies (I'll spare you the pages-long rant on how ); if there's a way to make a D&D movie WORSE than the 2000 version, Bay would find it. (Yes, the films made a lot of money, but this is a world in which people will pay big money for beans that have passed thru the digestive system of a Civit cat... ) Garbage remains garbage no matter how many people buy it.