D&D Movie/TV Should the D&D Movie Been Serious or Not Called D&D?

[Zardnaar]

As the title says. The D&D movie flopped at the box office. One reason speculated is the D&D name in the title being a turn off outside of the dedicated fan base.

Eg Honor Amoung Thieves: A D&D story. Or just HAT.

The other thing was did they get the tone wrong? GotG fantasy knock off vs more serious tone like LotR or Game of Thrones.

Another problem was outside of serious fantasy (LotR) and Harry Potter fantasy movies in general tend to do badly at the box office.

All the well regarded fantasy TV shows and big budget tend to be serious in tone as well (GoT, Shadow and Bone, Wheel of Time, Rings of Power, Witcher, Sandman).

Willow was the exception but it wasn't well regarded or high budget and got canceled.

 

[Oofta]

I think it should have been Honor Among Thieves, A D&D story. Whether it would have done better at the box office is anyone's guess. The movie industry is going through changes in a way that I don't think anyone really understands and being sandwiched between the John Wick movie and the Mario movie killed a lot of it's potential.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

It can be called whatever the rights holders want to call it.

Flopped? Irrelevant to the aforementioned.

Is the tone “right?” That is opinion. It’s not MY favorite. I like Excalibur and Conan the Barbarian movies. But I am a small subset of the audience. And ultimately thought the movie was fun though not my favorite tone.

Is it D&D? I mean this is such a campaign and table specific question! We recently played and laughed at Player overacting! In others? More grinding wargame.

I like these discussion questions you pose! But they do not have have an objective answer since this is a game we make our own…

 

[Mecheon]

Can't really say on the name. D&D is brand recognition, but it is also brand recognition of "That one movie that did absolutely awfully", as the original D&D movies have sort of hung a shadow over the brand ever since

Heck no on the serious side. People enjoyed its tone and not taking itself seriously. S'why it reviewed well. While we can't say for sure, I'm fairly certain a more serious tone to the movie would have made it worse. Reviews regularly mention the lighter tone made it more enjoyable. A serious D&D movie would have been absolutely eviscerated by reviews, and wouldn't be sitting around 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Frankly the reason it flopped was it released at a bad time. Changing the title or the movie wouldn't have helped that

 

[Burnside]

Why would Hasbro have financed a movie that was not branded with their D&D IP? Presumably promoting the brand was a major goal of producing the movie.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think to “flop” a movie has to lose like, a lot of money.

Not making a ton doesn’t qualify.

And it sure as hell wasn’t because of the name or the tone lol

 

[mamba]

I think to “flop” a movie has to lose like, a lot of money.

it lost a lot, it did not even make its production cost back (at the box office)

And it sure as hell wasn’t because of the name or the tone lol

this I agree with

I don’t think it was a sufficiently interesting movie in general. More a generic fantasy story with a D&D sprinkling, not much to draw an audience that isn’t built in already.

 

[pukunui]

My family and I enjoyed it. Everyone in my gaming groups who has seen it enjoyed it. I understand it’s a darn sight better than the previous D&D movies.

I don’t really care if it flopped or not. That TV show they’re making is still going ahead, right?

 

[bedir than]

My family and I enjoyed it. Everyone in my gaming groups who has seen it enjoyed it. I understand it’s a darn sight better than the previous D&D movies.

I don’t really care if it flopped or not. That TV show they’re making is still going ahead, right?

Not only is the tv show still coming, the movie was the most watched streaming program in the US last week, has spent about two weeks as the number one on all digital sales platforms and more than doubled searches for D&D the game over the last five months.

There's no way Hasbro spends their half of the production cost if D&D isn't in the title. They're absolutely loving a movie that has more digital attention than shows like Ted Lasso and movies that did better in the box office.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

it lost a lot, it did not even make its production cost back (at the box office)

So what? It made enough to get it far enough for streaming and digital sales to get it to a profitable status. How is that a flop?

this I agree with

I don’t think it was a sufficiently interesting movie in general. More a generic fantasy story with a D&D sprinkling, not much to draw an audience that isn’t built in already.

This I disagree with. I think it’s pretty much just unfamiliarity, not enough tie in stuff in stores before release, and a lot of “will this be terrible!?” online speculation ahead of the movie generating especially high skepticism.