WotC ICv2 Has A Theory That WotC Will Be Sold

[embee]

Then anti-monopoly laws may allow a DC+Marvel merger. I know it is a very fool theory but I love this type of crazy speculations.

DC Comics is wholly owned, ultimately, by Warner Bros. Marvel Comics, likewise, is owned by Disney. Neither Disney nor WB are going to be putting them up for sale anytime soon and subsidiaries can't just up an merge with subsidiaries of outside corporations. Old Navy can't just up and merge with Marshall's because Old Navy is a subsidiary of GAP, Inc. and Marshall's is a subsidiary of TJ Maxx.

Moreover, if they were going to, they would have done it in the last 3 years. Antitrust enforcement dropped precipitously under Trump with only a few high-profile exceptions who had famously annoyed Trump on a personal level. That lax enforcement is in no small part how the Fox acquisition happened. It was a horizontal acquisition which is the exact kind that the DOJ tends to frown upon. It happened entirely under Trump's presidency and involved a bidding war with Comcast, which owns CNN, NBC, and MSNBC, all major critics of Trump and who he often vocally opposed.

Again, if Disney had wanted D&D, it would have bought it. Netflix is a media company. It has no experience in the toy business. And if it wanted (and was even able to) buy Hasbro, it would have by now. Yes, the pandemic improved Netflix' revenues. But it also improved Hasbro, which saw growth during the lockdowns.

Hasbro owns a lot of toy franchises. Everyone knows Transformers but they then sleep on MLP:FiM. Mattel can't buy Hasbro. It just isn't big enough. It has Barbie, He-Man/She-Ra, Fisher Price, Hot Wheels, and American Girl. But losing the Disney Princess license was huge. I could see Hasbro and Mattel TRYING to merge but Mattel simply is not financially able to buy Hasbro.

But again, antitrust enforcement will crack down under a Biden administration. The big players are LEGO, Hasbro, and Mattel. And two of them merging is a horizontal merger which is unlikely to happen without the parties having to spin off marquee brands that are central to them.

 

[embee]

Hasbro will not sell WotC. Ever. They won't sell the IP. There is value in the name alone.
The easiest way to make a D&D movie or show? Take any module as a framework, add characters and arcs, and you have an audience.
Who wouldn't watch the Sinister Secret of the Salt Marsh? Or enjoy a Curse of Strahd limited series. I guess Bob Salvatore would enjoy a Drizzt movie or show. The stories are already scaffolded all you need to do is add the characters.

I would give my left nut for a Dark Sun series on HBO.

Okay... maybe not my left nut. But definitely SOMEONE'S left nut.

 

[embee]

Just pick some characters, pick a setting, and make the story great. Just don't skim on the surface. To me that would be the downfall.

Here is how you successfully land a man on the Moon:

1) Build a rocket
2) Put an astronaut in the rocket
3) Launch the rocket at the Moon
4) Have the astronaut land the rocket.

Just 4 easy steps, right?

The devil is in the details.

1) Just pick some characters
2) Pick a setting
3) Make the story great
4) Don't skimp on the surface

Just 4 easy steps for your plan. Except that the devil is in the details. You have to write the characters and cast the right actors to portray them. Pick a setting? You have to actually come up with a setting and develop it into something more than a sandbox. Don't skimp on the surface? Well, the balance between budget and production value is the whole trick, now isn't it?

 

[TheSword]

Here is how you successfully land a man on the Moon:

1) Build a rocket
2) Put an astronaut in the rocket
3) Launch the rocket at the Moon
4) Have the astronaut land the rocket.

Just 4 easy steps, right?

The devil is in the details.

1) Just pick some characters
2) Pick a setting
3) Make the story great
4) Don't skimp on the surface

Just 4 easy steps for your plan. Except that the devil is in the details. You have to write the characters and cast the right actors to portray them. Pick a setting? You have to actually come up with a setting and develop it into something more than a sandbox. Don't skimp on the surface? Well, the balance between budget and production value is the whole trick, now isn't it?

A bigger question is, why bother doing all that when there are hundreds of excellent fantasy stories ripe for conversion that don’t need to involve the cost of paying for the D&D IP.

The IP itself is of limited use because frankly the previous films were abysmal. It would be the equivalent of trying to get funds to resurrect the Police Academy franchise. And at least they had characters. You wouldn’t want to preserve ANYTHING from the original films.

It has taken 20 years for the Wheel of Time to reach production stages (in my opinion the closest thing to the kind of level 1-20, party of individual save the world campaign that is being discussed here). 20 years, with a pedigree novel series, that’s complete, and well regarded. Let’s be honest were it not for Game of Thrones we still probably wouldn’t be this far.

 

[jasper]

Hmm, in my best cheesy announcer voice ...

In a world where monsters are real and people fear the coming darkness a small group of misfits band together in a last ditch effort to save their kingdom and perhaps find themselves along the way.​

​

Okay, now I'm tempted to grab my own shovel! I'll have to work on it.

IN A WORLD WHERE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ARE REAL. A BAND OF MID LIST ACTORS WILL TRY TO GIVE ACADEMY AWARD PERFORMANCES WITH A FANFIC SCRIPT.
**
In a world where dungeons and dragons are real. A band of rogues will try to loot the dragon's dungeon and not get eaten. (Bonus points if the script has no thieves in the band.)

 

[Bedrockgames]

The IP itself is of limited use because frankly the previous films were abysmal. It would be the equivalent of trying to get funds to resurrect the Police Academy franchise. And at least they had characters. You wouldn’t want to preserve ANYTHING from the original films.

You could make a quality D&D movie if you put quality people in place for screen writing, direction, cast, etc. There were a lot of reasons the previous films were terrible, but almost none of them had anything to do with the D&D IP. That said, a brand like D&D would be easy to make a bad film out of (especially if it is just thrown together to grab the existing D&D audience). I think as a fan of D&D some things I would actually like to see are them utilization specific D&D mechanics like certain spells. I also might want to see certain characters or stories brought to life. But ultimately I think the most important thing would be to do something in the spirit of D&D. And I think a good story line to focus on would be something more like a dungeon delve or exploration that connects to the core premise of the game (also crazy dungeons are what separate D&D as a genre I think). Within that framework you could do all kinds of interesting things. I mean the movie the Descent is a dungeon delve, but it works.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

A bigger question is, why bother doing all that when there are hundreds of excellent fantasy stories ripe for conversion that don’t need to involve the cost of paying for the D&D IP.

The IP itself is of limited use because frankly the previous films were abysmal. It would be the equivalent of trying to get funds to resurrect the Police Academy franchise. And at least they had characters. You wouldn’t want to preserve ANYTHING from the original films.

It has taken 20 years for the Wheel of Time to reach production stages (in my opinion the closest thing to the kind of level 1-20, party of individual save the world campaign that is being discussed here). 20 years, with a pedigree novel series, that’s complete, and well regarded. Let’s be honest were it not for Game of Thrones we still probably wouldn’t be this far.

Pirates of the Caribbean (blockbuster franchise) was based off of a theme-park ride.

The Fast & Furious franchise was based off of a Vibe magazine article (the movies used to be about street racing).

Mission: Impossible was based off of a mostly-forgotten TV show from the late 60s.

Transformers was based off a toy line and/or cartoon.

Jumanji was based off a mostly-forgotten children's picture book.

Avatar (four sequels coming soon!) is based off of James Cameron's insatiable and unstoppable ego.


... it doesn't really matter what the source material is. Superhero movies, and Marvel movies especially, sucked hard .... until they didn't.

The use of the D&D IP is orthogonal to whether or not it will be a good movie. If they make a good, compelling movie, that will be a success. Which means that the odds are slim, given the overall hit rate of movies, and the lack of big names attached to the production (while not a hard-and-fast rule, quality tends to attract quality, and fantasy movies require a higher budget).

 

[Oofta]

Why a D&D movie?

Well, for me D&D represents a type of fantasy that is not particularly well represented in movies. High magic, but not completely dominated by wizards. Lots of different types of monsters, not just dragons. Stories built around teams working together bringing in different strengths, not an individual.

There are certainly aspects of D&D in a wide variety of movies, but I think a well done D&D movie could have a very different feel to it. It's one of the reasons I'll be interested in watching the Vox Machina D&D series when it finally gets to Amazon Prime.

On the other hand saying that a new movie if/when it is ever released will be bad because of past movies is like saying there can never be a good superhero movie because the 1990 version of Captain America scored an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

[TheSword]

Pirates of the Caribbean (blockbuster franchise) was based off of a theme-park ride.

The Fast & Furious franchise was based off of a Vibe magazine article (the movies used to be about street racing).

Mission: Impossible was based off off a mostly-forgotten TV show from the late 60s.

Transformers was based off a toy line and/or cartoon.

Jumanji was based off a mostly-forgotten children's picture book.

Avatar (four sequels coming soon!) is based off of James Cameron's insatiable and unstoppable ego.


... it doesn't really matter what the source material is. Superhero movies, and Marvel movies especially, sucked hard .... until they didn't.

The use of the D&D IP is orthogonal to whether or not it will be a good movie. If they make a good, compelling movie, that will be a success. Which means that the odds are slim, given the overall hit rate of movies, and the lack of big names attached to the production (while bit a hard-and-fast rule, quality tends to attract quality, and fantasy movies require a higher budget).

You’re right. The only reason for using an existing work is because it’s easy to tell if there is a good story there or not. D&D movie is an empty page.

All those films you mentioned can be summed up in one or two sentences.

I really have no idea how I’d sum up a d&d movie without cringing.

 

[TheSword]

On the other hand saying that a new movie if/when it is ever released will be bad because of past movies is like saying there can never be a good superhero movie because the 1990 version of Captain America scored an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.

That film was a diamond in the rough compared to the 2nd and 3rd d&d films.

I don’t think the previous films stops a new film being good. I think they stop one being made!