The problem with the D&D brand is lack of a central focus. Reviving Iron Man wasn't nearly as difficult because the focus was already there, it just needed the right combination of script, actor, and timing to catch the public eye. D&D has no such focus. Even in the individual product lines, there tends to be heavy splintering of focus between different worlds, characters, or preferred versions of lore, rule sets, etc. Making a smashing success of a Drizzt movie or a Dragonlance movie helps Drizzt or Dragonlance, but does little to help the core brand. In order for the multimedia aspect of WotC's goals to work out, Next has to successfully define D&D as a core brand that includes numerous other secondary brands that are already in existence and quite strong in their own right. If Next can do this, than getting people to want to license both the core brand and the secondary brands for games, movies, and whatever other products people can come up with will be much easier. Without that core identity, there's no real reason for anyone but WotC to care about the brand because there's no sellable core identity that everyone automatically thinks about when they hear the term D&D. You might get a few video games here and there, just like what 3.x and 4E got, but that's pretty much it. TV and movie producers will be just as likely to go with their own ideas because vague mentions here and there are not enough to constitute a bankable, reliable, ready made market.
