What does D&D mean to movie goers?

[Ryujin]

Lord of the Rings is a story. D&D is a ruleset for building stories. They're not really comparable.

Lord of the Rings might be comparable (in terms of them both being a story) with various D&D adventures or novels. But those don't have the brand name recognition that D&D has.

From that standpoint their best bet might be to rip off one of the existing indie movies/Youtube series like "The Gamers" and intro the movie by showing the players, then move into the fantasy world from there. At least then the viewers would have some idea of what it's all about.

 

[Ryujin]

There's also Stranger Things.

The "Stranger Things" connection might work for some. For others it would be "a silly kids' game."

 

[Morrus]

From that standpoint their best bet might be to rip off one of the existing indie movies/Youtube series like "The Gamers" and intro the movie by showing the players, then move into the fantasy world from there. At least then the viewers would have some idea of what it's all about.

You don't have to know about something before you watch it. Plenty of franchises get launched from nothing, or from little known characters. You just have to market it well.

 

[Ryujin]

You don't have to know about something before you watch it. Plenty of franchises get launched from nothing, or from little known characters. You just have to market it well.

True enough but I was coming at it from the "building stories rather than telling stories" aspect that you mentioned.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

And that's no small number of people that would've heard the name D&D as part of the show, seen a d20 get rolled, heard them talk about the Mind Flayer. Within the first four days of season 3's release, over 40 million Netflix accounts streamed at least some of it. D&D brand recognition is probably higher than ever.

Not that that translates directly into people that will go see the D&D movie. While current pop culture is pretty well-meshed with geek culture at this point, so much of the hits have the muscle of the MCU, Pixar, Star Wars (So, Disney), DC, and so on behind them. What was the last successful Hollywood (western) fantasy movie that didn't belong to one of those?

My wife loves LOTR, Stranger Things, GoT, MCU, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, but it's even odds on her watching the D&D movie with me or not. She might try it based on Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant being in it, but she might just tell me "why don't you watch it with your brother?"

There's also Stranger Things.

 

[Umbran]

True enough but I was coming at it from the "building stories rather than telling stories" aspect that you mentioned.

I think his point is that you can market LotR as "Here's the story of LotR." You can't market D&D that way. That does not mean you need to start with a story that's already been established - just that the marketing has to be different.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I dont think its instantly smart at all. Did they market World of Warcraft to LotR and GoT folks?

I believe they did, yes.

Targeted Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive and you can refine them with multiple qualifications as needed. (Every nation's political leadership shows this works.) Maybe you don't just advertise to someone who likes LotR, GoT or the Witcher, but you market to the people who like all three, showing that they're not just hot for Jon Snow.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

How many non-children fantasy movies are there really that are considered "great movies"?

All I can think of is Conan the Barbarian and Lord of the Rings.

While science fiction has had a number of very successful well regarded movies, fantasy movies are still generally a pretty trashy thing.

It really depends on your definition of fantasy. For example, we tend to use an expansive definition of "science fiction" but, mentally, our image of fantasy movies tends to get stuck on "Sword & Sorcery" (Conan) or "High Fantasy" (LoTR), and there aren't a lot of those.

But fantasy is a fairly expansive genre.

Depending on the exact boundaries, you would need to include Pan's Labyrinth, Wizard of Oz, the Harry Potter Series, the Princess Bride, Mary Poppins, and ... heck, you could probbly put in the Oscar-winning Shape of Water as well!

What about Tim Burton? Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Beetlejuice etc.
What about Gilliam? Time Bandits, Baron Munchausen etc.

Then there's the animated - Coraline, some of the output of Miyazaki (Spirited Away etc.), Shrek, Fantasia, Onward, etc.

And then ... what about some of the MCU movies and other superhero movies? Thor and Dr. Strange arguably. The Hellboy movies?

 

[Undrave]

My wife loves LOTR, Stranger Things, GoT, MCU, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, but it's even odds on her watching the D&D movie with me or not. She might try it based on Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant being in it, but she might just tell me "why don't you watch it with your brother?"

Maybe if they come out with a rocking trailer.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe if they come out with a rocking trailer.

They will come out with a rocking trailer.

Trailers nowadays are amazing compared to even just a few years ago. The specialists who assemble the good ones are insanely good at their jobs, even if the movie itself is a turkey. And they turn out a ton of variants so they can target every one of them. I think we can count on a version highlighting Regé-Jean Page that will be put in front of Bridgerton fans who also like fantasy.