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!

 

[MechaTarrasque]

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.

Before this thread creaks to a halt, I am sure there will be hundreds of posts competing to figure out how badly the movie will fail, but you have all lost, because my Michael Bay post has a vision way worse then yours. (Maniacal laugh) Ha! Ha! Ha!

That's right, airborne rangers, explosions, 1990's era hip-hop speaking Drizt (with simplified spelling)*, wizards who do what hackers do in other Michael Bay movies, lingerie-wearing drow priestesses, bigger explosions, at least one car chase (probably more than one) [seriously, conjuring a car will be the most overt magic you will see in the movie, except for magic that makes explosions], a pair of buddy cops, Tiamat will be so complicated it will make the computer at ILM explode, Megan Fox will be Lolth, did I say explosions?

There is no worse vision, so now everyone can breath easy.

Edit: Did I really pass up the opportunity to say "For Drizzle"?

 

[LordEntrails]

Thinking about it more, I really don't care if I like the movie. I probably will because I like movies for what they are, not for what they could be or "should" be.

I hope the movie makes a ton of money. Even if it's the worst theatrical or representation of D&D or artistic depiction or anything else, I don't care. If the movie makes a ton of money, some of that will allow WotC to invest in more resources, more employees, and will give them the business justification to try new things and to grow.

WotC grows, that will benefit many gamers. Sure, there will be some left out, but they will only be a vocal minority. WotC grows and it will be good for the industry.

So, I don't care much about the movie except I hope it makes a lot of money.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Before this thread creaks to a halt, I am sure there will be hundreds of posts competing to figure out how badly the movie will fail, but you have all lost, because my Michael Bay post has a vision way worse then yours. (Maniacal laugh) Ha! Ha! Ha!

That's right, airborne rangers, explosions, 1990's era hip-hop speaking Drizt (with simplified spelling)*, wizards who do what hackers do in other Michael Bay movies, lingerie-wearing drow priestesses, bigger explosions, at least one car chase (probably more than one) [seriously, conjuring a car will be the most overt magic you will see in the movie, except for magic that makes explosions], a pair of buddy cops, Tiamat will be so complicated it will make the computer at ILM explode, Megan Fox will be Lolth, did I say explosions?

There is no worse vision, so now everyone can breath easy.

Edit: Did I really pass up the opportunity to say "For Drizzle"?

You forgot lens flares. Hundreds of them. And an unnecessarily contorted plot twist.

Because he will be working with JJ Abrams and M. Night Shaymalan.

 

[Parmandur]

Thinking about it more, I really don't care if I like the movie. I probably will because I like movies for what they are, not for what they could be or "should" be.

I hope the movie makes a ton of money. Even if it's the worst theatrical or representation of D&D or artistic depiction or anything else, I don't care. If the movie makes a ton of money, some of that will allow WotC to invest in more resources, more employees, and will give them the business justification to try new things and to grow.

WotC grows, that will benefit many gamers. Sure, there will be some left out, but they will only be a vocal minority. WotC grows and it will be good for the industry.

So, I don't care much about the movie except I hope it makes a lot of money.

This is precisely how I feel: if it's fun or even good, great, but if it pushes the brand, fabulous.

I want Hasbro to merchandise the crap out of it, so I can get D&D toys for my kids.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[werecorpse]

I want the movie to be good. It shouldn't be that hard really.

But after the hobbit trilogy and more recently Ep 7 & 8 of Star Wars I expect a poor story, weak attempts at comedy but a bunch of professionally put together action scenes which people will condescendingly say "it's made that way because that's what the kids like".

 

[hutchback]

Not sure why anyone would have any expectation of this being any good. This genre is something Hollywood seems unable or unwilling to execute well. Seriously, name 10 GOOD live-action high-fantasy films.

I think LOTR was just so well made that we consider it proof that it can be done, but perhaps it is the exception that proves the rule.

 

[Parmandur]

Not sure why anyone would have any expectation of this being any good. This genre is something Hollywood seems unable or unwilling to execute well. Seriously, name 10 GOOD live-action high-fantasy films.

I think LOTR was just so well made that we consider it proof that it can be done, but perhaps it is the exception that proves the rule.

Well, it certainly could be good: that would be nice. If you had asked for somebody to name ten good superhero films in 2000, there would have been an insufficient number of candidates to even populate the field, and one could state that Donner's Superman was "the exception that proved the rule." Just because it hasn't been done often before doesn't mean that it can't be done.

That said, I'm setting my expectations at "competent toy commercial."

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This genre is something Hollywood seems unable or unwilling to execute well. Seriously, name 10 GOOD live-action high-fantasy films.

Point of clarification: can we use particularly good ones more than once, or do we need 10 unique ones?

That said, I'm setting my expectations at "competent toy commercial."

*pfffft* Optimist!

 

[Jiggawatts]

Prediction: It will be mediocre. Not horrible and not good. It will be forgettable. The most vehement complaints will be from gamers who dislike the departures. It will be better than the former travesty but will be watered down overuse of fantasy conventions.

They could do great things but will appeal to the masses who are invested relatively little--just the price of the ticket. It will be flashy enough to dazzle for its under 2 hour run time, but no D&D fans are going to be thrilled.

Hear me now, believe me later.

This would be the exact opposite of the Warcraft scenario, which most WC fans loved, but the general public didn't understand it and/or couldn't get into it.

 

[Thomas Bowman]

Not sure why anyone would have any expectation of this being any good. This genre is something Hollywood seems unable or unwilling to execute well. Seriously, name 10 GOOD live-action high-fantasy films.

I think LOTR was just so well made that we consider it proof that it can be done, but perhaps it is the exception that proves the rule.

Why should Hollywood do it? I think Disney could do it. Europe has a lot of locations and castles. I think some of the previous Dungeons & Dragon movies were a bit over the top. I remember one with implausibly high medieval towers. I think the writers need to resist the temptation of making magic an "everyday appliance" in their world. Non-magic using characters should out number the magic using ones.

Could they do a movie with these characters?

Here is a castle from the Forgotten realms.

Here is a medieval castle with mote.

Here are some Medieval figures. Notice how they are dressed different from the Forgotten Realms figures.
If you were going to create costumes for a Forgotten Realms movie, which style would you go with?