New D&D Movie To Go Ahead - Produced By Lego Movie's Roy Lee

The long dispute between Hasbro and Sweetpea Entertainment has come to and end, opening the door for a brand new Dungeons & Dragons movie! The deal between Warner Bros, Hasbro, and Sweetpea, will see a movie set in the Forgotten Realms, written by Wrath of the Titans' David Leslie Johnson, and produced by The Lego Movie's Roy Lee.

Lee, who also produced How To Train Your Dragon, will be producing the film which has been written by Wrath of the Titans' David Leslie Johnson. It'll be set in the Forgotten Realms (of course). At Hasbro's end, there is involvement from Brian Goldner (Hasbro's chief executive) and Stephen Davis (chief content officer). Warner Bros' Greg Silverman said that "[D&D] is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings."

More details on the lawsuit and its resolution can be found here. Full press release:

Warner Bros. Pictures, Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures and Sweetpea Entertainment are moving forward on a feature film franchise based on Dungeons & Dragons, the world’s most popular role playing game. Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis, Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman of Sweetpea Entertainment, and Roy Lee (“The LEGO Movie,” “How to Train Your Dragon”) are attached as producers.

Highlighting the priority being given to the project, Warner Bros. Pictures already has a script, written by David Leslie Johnson (“The Conjuring 2,” “Wrath of the Titans”).

“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,” said Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, Warner Bros. Pictures. “This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property.”

“This is such an enormous opportunity to bring the rich fantasy setting of the Forgotten Realms to life and, together with the creative powerhouse of Warner Bros., use movies to tell the stories that have enchanted passionate D&D fans for decades,” said Stephen Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer of Hasbro, Inc. “D&D is the role-playing game that started it all and now we have the opportunity to ignite a franchise for its legions of avid fans in a way never done before.”

Dungeons & Dragons first became popular in 1974, and since then has amassed millions of players and fans worldwide. The hugely popular property has also influenced numerous writers, directors, game designers, and other creative professionals throughout its four decades.

“We are thrilled that this beloved property can finally make its way to the big screen after 20 years, and that it can be realized by Warner Bros., which has been responsible for the biggest fantasy franchises over the past two decades,” said Courtney Solomon of Sweetpea Entertainment.

Today’s announcement reflects the resolution of Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast LLC’s complaint against Sweetpea Entertainment, Inc. and Sweetpea BVI, Ltd. and the counterclaims filed by Sweetpea against Hasbro in May 2013 related to the Dungeons & Dragon brand. Solomon and Zeman will be attached to produce all Warner Bros.-produced Dungeons & Dragons film and television productions. All rights for future Dungeons & Dragons productions have been unified and returned to Wizards of the Coast, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hasbro.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

s long as it is better than that piece of dung from 2000

Some of the casting was brutal I mean come on Marlan Wayans thief squeals made me want to vomit

The story line was all over the place the heroes where laughable. Pleas please let the casting. writing and directing be better

I am deeply offended. Snails (my icon) was the least sucky thing in that whole movie.

But, seriously, the actors were fine. The script tried to jam too much into one movie. "Let's start with dragons, and dungeons, and more dungeons, and lots of dragons when the princes is saved at the climax!" The genre itself requires a degree of melodrama. Melodrama that moves too quickly will always leave the actors looking wooden. The actors need some time to be allowed to blend humor and the human touch into their characters -- so I am serious that Wayans deserves kudos for making the effort.

 

[HonorBoundSamurai632]

Well I'm about to win the most unpopular comment in this thread.

They need to leave the movies alone. The last 2 D&D movies where horrible. Just ..... bad. Really, really, bad. And personally, as I've said before, I am sick and tired of The Forgotten Realms being shoved down my throat. It's cool that most of the comments here love the fact that it's set in The Realms (probably ...... The Sword Coast because that's the only area in The Realms now,) but really? Realms everywhere!!!

(And here is where I get ripped apart) The War of the Lance trilogy is screaming for a live action movie. If it wasn't for those novels, and the success of them at the time of their release, I doubt that there would even be any D&D novels after that. Even the Gygax written novels (based in Greyhawk) were not that successful in the beginning. Those War of the Lance books really opened things up. I know the animated adaptation wasn't successful, but really ..... did you expect it to be? The animation reminded me of watching the GI Joe cartoon after grade school in the 80's, and the voice acting was just god awful. I'm sorry, I just can't see anything good coming out of this. It's times like this, I wish Hasbro would just STOP and accept the fact that not everything needs to be pushed into so many different media forms. D&D is a niche game ..... why can't they just accept that? (Probably because of $$$$$$$)

 

[Henry]

So the D&D movie will feature a cat-folk fighting giant bees all shot in Dutch angle?

"Dutch angle" sounds like a euphamism for something filthy.

PRO: produced my Warner Brothers and not some direct-to-video house like Zinc Entertainment.
PRO: produced by Roy Lee. Lego Movie was done very well, and an involved and engaged producer often means a good movie.

CON: written by the Wrath of the Titans guy. I really disliked the structure of that movie, because there was NOTHING scriptwise that tied the audience to the protagonist. You need to either empathize with or really like a protagonist for a movie to work. I didnt care about WRATH's protagonist whether he or his family lived or died throughout the entire movie.

CON: If Drow ever make an appearance in a D&D movie, activists looking for a focus will descend on it like the Fist of an Angry God for its racist undertones. However, given the Law of Media Publicity, I'm not sure if this is a reason to avoid Dark Elves, or to absolutely include them.

 

[Tonguez]

I'd actually rather not see a remake. Because it's animated and a fantasy, the original holds up really well. And it's even still available for dirt cheap on Amazon. I've been watching them with my son and some of the episodes are solid.

Were I in charge of the D&D movie I'd have the plot revolve around a soft reboot or sequel to the original. Anew group of people brought into the world and given different magical items, like a wand, sword, holy symbol, etc. Because that concept still works: if you have average people brought into a magical world, they need an edge to survive.

During their quest to get home, they'd receive aid and advice from white haired lord who speaks in cryptic riddles. Near the end, he reveals he's also from their world and had the opportunity to return, but he and most of his friends elected to remain because this world needed heroes. Then he'd walks to the wall and wistfully touch a battered yellow shield...

I imagine the rights to the cartoon would be the issue and potential problem area. But a "lost episode" animated by a modern studio would be an awesome bonus feature for the DVD.

actually thats much cooler

I was thinking that even as a remake you'd probably want to make the "Kids" older - an 8 year old Barbarian just doesn't appeal to a general audience. Of course Narnia has already shown that the concept can work and appeal to adults too

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Drow Skin is more a greyish color now. Not really black.

 

[Dioltach]

Drow Skin is more a greyish color now. Not really black.

That's what you get if you use a generic detergent...

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Because it got credit for being "the new marvel movie". Really, I literally talked to people who didn't know it's title when they went to see it, but went because it was the latest in the series of marvel movies and those had build enough street cred that it would not have mattered at all whatever marvel would have released, people would have went to see it because of the last ones.

That's a fair point. I think you can look back at Blade and Iron Man as examples too. In my anecdotal experience non-nerds (and most nerds) had little to no knowledge of those characters but their movies were successes without having the new Marvel movie push behind them.

 

[Charles Rampant]

If D&D is 'too generic', then why is Shannara busily being turned into a wildly expensive TV series? No, they will be going full hilt on creating D&D as a brand. Nobody had heard of Iron Man before his film except comics fans, and now he is one of the most visually recognizable heroes in the world. They'll be doing the same for our little hobby: that is what Hasbro has been working towards, and why Chris Perkins is the one that was sent to meet with Warner Bros. It is all about using the elements of the D&D mythos, backstory and history to create memorable links for the public. So that when they walk into a shop, and they see a fluffy eyeball with smaller eyeballs dangling from it, they'll know what it is. When they see a tall white woman with red hair and a distinctive hammer, they'll identify it as [XXX] character from that blockbuster movie last year, and who is on the front cover of the Xbox action game. Expect D&D specific monsters all over, and for them to be building new and old legends (Drizzt as well as new creations) to sell as toys.

We may hope, as fans, that what we get from the films is an enjoyable and authentically fantasy series of films. Apart from LotR and the Harry Potter films, there have been very slim pickings for fans of well-made fantasy films. I seriously doubt that they will go for a 'real people enter the world' angle, simply because that doesn't lend itself to the critical word in the press release: franchise. They don't want to make one film. They want to make TEN films, and toys and games and blankets and books and hats and kids bicycles and whatnot for every single one of them. You don't base a franchise on a gimmick; you base it on a solid mythos (Marvel comics, the X-Men storylines, and now D&D modules and tropes) that gives you room to endlessly spin out sequels.

 

[Morrus]

The main thing for me is the style of the movie. Is it going to look and feel like the LotR trilogy? Or like the previous D&D movies? Is it going to be all bright colours and one-liners, or is it going to have epic, sweeping themes? Are the actor all going to be teenagers, or will there be some grown-ups, too? The setting is almost irrelevant to me in face of those factors.

 

[Ryujin]

If D&D is 'too generic', then why is Shannara busily being turned into a wildly expensive TV series?

Three words:

Game

of

Thrones.