D&D Movie/TV D&D Movie Moves Forward With Deal With Former Marvel Exec Jeremy Latcham

[LuisCarlos17f]

I see there is a serious conflict with media production based in famous franchises, the right balance between the change and the orthodoxy, because public wants news things, but not too changed. Then the continuity is relatively frozen, because a lot of things happens, but characters don't growing up too much. The children of the characters are good example of floating timelines.

D&D is more literature than comic, and this has allowed new stories with children of a previous generation of heroes, for example Dragonlance.

* A blockbuster isn't only FXs, but a good script, give good vibes to the public, and a right rynthm of action.

* Hasbro could agree a partnership with Humblewood to produce a cartoon (and toys) for children. Of course some spells should be altered to allow no-lethal magic (hold person, grease, sleep, spiderweb).

* The secret of a good D&D movie is to produce a title enough good even for people who knew noghint about D&D. Conan the barbarian is a classic, and the the public didn't need anything about Hirboria age, but a IPs isn't enough. Remember the version with Arnold Swcharzenegger and the one with Jason Momoa (yes, Aquaman, but without beard). A famous franchise isn't enough as hook. Do you remember the box ofice by Playmobil: the movie?

* Even a franchise can be a blockbuster in the first movie, but the sequel isn't so good, for example Transformers or Ninja Turtles.

* The reaction by the public could alter the plans for the next phase, for example about Ravenloft. This is relatively easier to produce an action-live movie for people who like horror, but without knownledge about Ravenloft. Dragonlance is a true challenge for the producers, and you know the cartoon didn't work. Maybe the story was too long for a movie.

* If the movie has enough success, other studios may try to create their own epic fantasy movies, and this would be good for D&D, like an indirect promotion.

 

[Bohandas]

We could spend days listing movies better than the D&D movie (Dragonslayer, Hobbit - Rankin Bass version, Conan, etc.). But the big problem is that no one at Hollywood cares enough about the property to do a heart-felt, non-money grab version. There's no one with foresight to lead and follow this project through.

I'd be happily surprised if it was merely up to the standards of a normal fantasy b-movie (like Ator, or Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, or Curse of the Dragonslayer)

 

[Parmandur]

We could spend days listing movies better than the D&D movie (Dragonslayer, Hobbit - Rankin Bass version, Conan, etc.). But the big problem is that no one at Hollywood cares enough about the property to do a heart-felt, non-money grab version. There's no one with foresight to lead and follow this project through.

Well, that's objectively not true.

 

[Nagol]

Well, that's objectively not true.

Which part? Because I certainly could go hoarse trying to list all the fantasy movies better than D&D. It'd probably take many hours over several days.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Which part? Because I certainly could go hoarse trying to list all the fantasy movies better than D&D. It'd probably take many hours over several days.

The part about no one in Hollywood caring enough about a DnD movie to see it through. There are literally dozens of big DnD fans in Hollywood.

Many of whom have been put in on this movie at one point or another.

Now, maybe we can say there is no experienced producer who cares enough, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that isn't the case either.

 

[slobster]

I'm curious if the D&D movie will go the route of being essentially a general fantasy movie with some D&D names and set decorations and tropes, or if it will do something that brings in the actual tabletop game into the movie as something to be directly commented on and portrayed.

The former seems to be the one most people are expecting, and what they did with the last batch of D&D movies. Nothing wrong with it, really, although in some ways I think that inventing a new fantasy world and making a movie about it is no more D&D than just making a brand new fantasy IP entirely, other than the name on the poster. Of course if they chose to adapt a storyline from FR or Dragonlance or something that would be a different story, but then it would be less a general D&D movie and more an adaptation of some specific novels or something.

Going the latter route (having the game of D&D actually feature in the film somehow in addition to all the fantasy stuff) sounds kind of goofy, and could certainly be, but my point of comparison wouldn't be the animated D&D series (which did the whole D&D players sucked into their own campaign) but something more like the LEGO movie, which somehow managed the balancing act of making a movie about a beloved childhood toy where the fact that it was a toy was a vital in-universe fact that touched on nostalgia, while still telling a satisfying story in its own right.

All that said, I won't be very surprised at all if the movie ends up just being a random fantasy adventure rollick, plus one of the weapons is called a Holy Avenger, they fight a Mindflayer in the second act as a random mook, and the main character's quirky mentor is named Bigby. I'm still a sucker for random fun adventure movies, so I could still enjoy it.

Also, best D&D movie is Princess Bride.

 

[Nagol]

I'm curious if the D&D movie will go the route of being essentially a general fantasy movie with some D&D names and set decorations and tropes, or if it will do something that brings in the actual tabletop game into the movie as something to be directly commented on and portrayed.

The former seems to be the one most people are expecting, and what they did with the last batch of D&D movies. Nothing wrong with it, really, although in some ways I think that inventing a new fantasy world and making a movie about it is no more D&D than just making a brand new fantasy IP entirely, other than the name on the poster. Of course if they chose to adapt a storyline from FR or Dragonlance or something that would be a different story, but then it would be less a general D&D movie and more an adaptation of some specific novels or something.

Going the latter route (having the game of D&D actually feature in the film somehow in addition to all the fantasy stuff) sounds kind of goofy, and could certainly be, but my point of comparison wouldn't be the animated D&D series (which did the whole D&D players sucked into their own campaign) but something more like the LEGO movie, which somehow managed the balancing act of making a movie about a beloved childhood toy where the fact that it was a toy was a vital in-universe fact that touched on nostalgia, while still telling a satisfying story in its own right.

All that said, I won't be very surprised at all if the movie ends up just being a random fantasy adventure rollick, plus one of the weapons is called a Holy Avenger, they fight a Mindflayer in the second act as a random mook, and the main character's quirky mentor is named Bigby. I'm still a sucker for random fun adventure movies, so I could still enjoy it.

Also, best D&D movie is Princess Bride.

I'm a big fan of Andre Norton, but Quag Keep was... below her average work. I hope the movie avoids the device of trying to insert gamers inside the world.

The second option is how the D&D movies have done it so far; mentions of D&D locations and personaolities (Barrier Peaks, for example) plus commonish fantasy elements (dragons, demons, magic spells that almost sort-of work like they did in one or more D&D editions...).

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I'm curious if the D&D movie will go the route of being essentially a general fantasy movie with some D&D names and set decorations and tropes, or if it will do something that brings in the actual tabletop game into the movie as something to be directly commented on and portrayed.

The former seems to be the one most people are expecting, and what they did with the last batch of D&D movies. Nothing wrong with it, really, although in some ways I think that inventing a new fantasy world and making a movie about it is no more D&D than just making a brand new fantasy IP entirely, other than the name on the poster. Of course if they chose to adapt a storyline from FR or Dragonlance or something that would be a different story, but then it would be less a general D&D movie and more an adaptation of some specific novels or something.

Going the latter route (having the game of D&D actually feature in the film somehow in addition to all the fantasy stuff) sounds kind of goofy, and could certainly be, but my point of comparison wouldn't be the animated D&D series (which did the whole D&D players sucked into their own campaign) but something more like the LEGO movie, which somehow managed the balancing act of making a movie about a beloved childhood toy where the fact that it was a toy was a vital in-universe fact that touched on nostalgia, while still telling a satisfying story in its own right.

All that said, I won't be very surprised at all if the movie ends up just being a random fantasy adventure rollick, plus one of the weapons is called a Holy Avenger, they fight a Mindflayer in the second act as a random mook, and the main character's quirky mentor is named Bigby. I'm still a sucker for random fun adventure movies, so I could still enjoy it.

Also, best D&D movie is Princess Bride.

That's the kinda thing I'm hoping for. Like it seems like a fairly normal fantasy movie (what a weird phrase) but early on it cuts out or something and we hear the players having a rules argument or something. Basically pull a Princess Bride with it.

 

[slobster]

That's the kinda thing I'm hoping for. Like it seems like a fairly normal fantasy movie (what a weird phrase) but early on it cuts out or something and we hear the players having a rules argument or something. Basically pull a Princess Bride with it.

Yeah something playful like that could work! I know it would be an incredibly difficult balancing act, and that most people's first reaction on hearing about it would be skepticism, but honestly what makes D&D uniquely itself and not just any generic fantasy has so much to do with table dynamics and the alchemy of a bunch of silly nerds coming together and building that fantasy tale together, with all the fighting and rules lawyering and Monty Python references that implies.

I don't know, I'm not a professional writer, but if you could pull off making a good fantasy and making a good movie about the game of D&D in one go, it would be something truly special.

 

[Parmandur]

Which part? Because I certainly could go hoarse trying to list all the fantasy movies better than D&D. It'd probably take many hours over several days.

As @Chaosmancer says, there are tremendous numbers of D&D fans in Hollywood, many of whom are or have been involved in the unfolding work to make a movie happen for the past decade or so. That doesn't mean that the result will be a good movie, odds are for mediocrity by definition, but finding people in Hollywood who care isn't the issue.