D&D Movie/TV Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith Join D&D Movie

From Comic Book Movies -- "Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar) and Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu) have joined Wonder Woman 1984's Chris Pine in Paramount and eOne's upcoming big-budget board game adaptation, Dungeons & Dragons..."

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Michelle Rodriguez And Justice Smith Join Chris Pine In Fantasy Adaptation

Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar) and Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu) have joined Wonder Woman 1984's Chris Pine in Paramount and eOne's upcoming big-budget board game adaptation, Dungeons & Dragons...

www.comicbookmovie.com

We learned in December about Chris Pine's involvement, along with directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.

D&D Movie/TV - Chris Pine To Star In D&D Movie

The long, slow process towards a modern take on D&D movies took a large step forward with the announcement of a huge star signed to the project. Considering that filming is set to start soon a cascade of announcements should be revealed in initiative order imminently. Filming begins in Q1 2021...

www.enworld.org

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Lord of the Rings, the Princess Bride, Labyrinth, the Harry Potter movies, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Maleficent, the Chronicles of Narnia, How to Train Your Dragon.

You literally don't understand what he's saying.

LotR, Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Harry Potter, Narnia and How to Train Your Dragon are all the exact kind of movies he's describing. Re-read his sentence carefully.

Those are the movies that support his point. They're some of the most successful fantasy movies, and they're from other people's stories. That's what he's saying works.

Pirates and Maleficent are are slightly more interesting cases. Pirates is basically woven out of whole cloth. It's loosely inspired by a Disney ride, and takes it's aesthetic from that plus a lot of pirate mythology. It was considered an incredible risk and nearly shut down a bunch of times. Maleficent is also woven out of whole cloth, but is much safer, because it's just creating an elaborate backstory for an existing character. So these are sort of mixed cases. You could say they went against his point, but not strongly.

What you need to find is a fantasy movie that is not based on a book, or a specific fairy tale, or a specific incident in mythology, or a computer game. One that's completely new. Examples would be Krull or The Dark Crystal or Legend or Labyrinth.

Of those, Krull and Legend support his point because they're godawful. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth however, are good, so counter his point. However, they're both Jim Henson and rely heavily on puppets - which doesn't make them bad, but does make them specific. So it would be good to have examples of fairly high-fantasy movies which were "original" (as in not based on anything else specifically).

 

[Orius]

Given how many ways there are to kill PCs, and how Michelle Rodriguez has a Sean Bean-esque way of dying in most of her film appearances, I'm suddenly wondering if the film will adhere to D&D tradition by ending with a TPK.

Sigh. I should have commented on this topic earlier so I could make the obligatory "Michelle Rodrigez dies again!" crack, but I was beaten to it.

Apparently there are going to be at least 2 more sequels. I can hardly wait ... ah who am I kidding. I can wait. I thought the first one was dumb, and I'm pretty lenient on movie logic. I was cheering for the guys in the mech suits at the end.

I didn't like Avatar very much either:

Rate Avatar (James Cameron)

But that doesn't make it rape. I can store porno movies on an USB sticks. That doesn't give storing a Bible as PDF on the USB a sexual or pornographic meaning. I was about to post a counter-analogy, but I think Eric's grandma is already suffering from severe hypertension at this whole...

www.enworld.org

My opinions are pretty much the same today, though I'd be harsher on the tired old Mighty Whitey angle, and bash the Na'vi for being the designated heroes even though they're violently xenophobic and unsympathetic. I find it downright hilarious that the villianous colonel seems to have a big fan base just from how unlikeable the Na'vi can be.

 

[Jaeger]

...Of those, Krull and Legend support his point because they're godawful. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth however, are good, so counter his point. However, they're both Jim Henson and rely heavily on puppets - which doesn't make them bad, but does make them specific. So it would be good to have examples of fairly high-fantasy movies which were "original" (as in not based on anything else specifically).

Depending how you want to go I will say that the Henson films were a singular man's vision. Not run through the Hollywood system.

Even then, they did not do big box office numbers at the time or original release. But unlike many other films, their underlying quality has stood the test of time.

...LotR, Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Harry Potter, Narnia and How to Train Your Dragon are all the exact kind of movies he's describing. ...

... They're some of the most successful fantasy movies, and they're from other people's stories. That's what he's saying works.
...

Exactly.

I absolutely want to see a D&D movie made.

I also believe that the quality of the D&D movie will reflect on the game IP for good or ill.

Which is why I want it to actually be good.

I just think that there is a greater chance of the movie being good if it is adapted from a popular D&D novel.

I am not expecting Ben-Hur.

But I think that something comparable to, and as entertaining as 1982 Conan should be within reach.

 

[Mistwell]

In some ways it really doesn't take much to make a decent movie.

Oh, sweet Summer child...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You literally don't understand what he's saying.

LotR, Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Harry Potter, Narnia and How to Train Your Dragon are all the exact kind of movies he's describing. Re-read his sentence carefully.

Those are the movies that support his point. They're some of the most successful fantasy movies, and they're from other people's stories. That's what he's saying works.

Labyrinth was based on Brian Froud's drawings.

Every film is based on someone's idea, whether it's a screenwriter, a novelist or some computer at Netflix that says "we need more Gen Z supernatural coming of age dramedies with bright colors."

"It comes from someone's idea" is a meaningless argument. Hollywood is full of flops based on very good source material -- look at the range of quality in Conan adaptations alone -- and hits based on nothing but, you know, goofy drawings of goblins.

What you need to find is a fantasy movie that is not based on a book, or a specific fairy tale, or a specific incident in mythology, or a computer game. One that's completely new. Examples would be Krull or The Dark Crystal or Legend or Labyrinth.

Thank goodness I did that then!

If there was a magic formula for what worked in Hollywood, I assure you, it would not be a secret, because that's all Hollywood would use. (e.g. Save the Cat.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I just think that there is a greater chance of the movie being good if it is adapted from a popular D&D novel.

Because it'll retroactively make the D&D novel not terrible?

 

[Imaculata]

The last few years we've also seen quite a number of terrible adaptions.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Is it safe to assume a D&D movie will take place in the Forgotten Realms?

No.

It's perfectly possible, but I would say a "homebrew" setting is at least as likely, with Greyhawk and Dragonlance also possible.

The only setting clue is the Belfast studio location. That might suggest much of the location shooting will use Irish locations, which will determine the look of the setting: dark green old world forests, rain, mud, rolling hills but relatively modest mountains, rugged coasts, ancient ruined castles and hill forts.

As typically depicted, the Sword Coast and Krynn have a North American look to them - vast dry forests with a red/yellow pallet, high snowy mountains, open plains.

Ireland is a shoe-in for the Moonshaes though. It's not inconsistent with my idea for a loose adaptation of Darkwalker on Moonshae. Chis Pine would work as an aged-up Tristan Kendrick, with Rodriguez an aged-up Robyn and Smith as Daryth.

 

[Mind of tempest]

No.

It's perfectly possible, but I would say a "homebrew" setting is at least as likely, with Greyhawk and Dragonlance also possible.

The only setting clue is the Belfast studio location. That might suggest much of the location shooting will use Irish locations, which will determine the look of the setting: dark green old world forests, rain, mud, rolling hills but relatively modest mountains, rugged coasts, ancient ruined castles and hill forts.

As typically depicted, the Sword Coast and Krynn have a North American look to them - vast dry forests with a red/yellow pallet, high snowy mountains, open plains.

Ireland is a shoe-in for the Moonshaes though. It's not inconsistent with my idea for a loose adaptation of Darkwalker on Moonshae. Chis Pine would work as an aged-up Tristan Kendrick, with Rodriguez an aged-up Robyn and Smith as Daryth.

I am going to ask the million-dollar question of who any of those characters are?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Labyrinth was based on Brian Froud's drawings.

Every film is based on someone's idea, whether it's a screenwriter, a novelist or some computer at Netflix that says "we need more Gen Z supernatural coming of age dramedies with bright colors."

"It comes from someone's idea" is a meaningless argument. Hollywood is full of flops based on very good source material -- look at the range of quality in Conan adaptations alone -- and hits based on nothing but, you know, goofy drawings of goblins.


Thank goodness I did that then!

If there was a magic formula for what worked in Hollywood, I assure you, it would not be a secret, because that's all Hollywood would use. (e.g. Save the Cat.)

No-one said "from someone's idea". The other poster very specifically said from actual solid stories other people had written. That's obviously different and you know that, and it's a crummy move to pretend you don't.

Furthermore, his point is well-made. There's a strong historic correlation between full-on fantasy movies being based on a very specific story and being successful as a movie in Hollywood.

You didn't provide any examples at all of movies not based on a specific story. I'm not sure why you're saying you. You know people can see your post and see you didn't, right?

This isn't a secret - so your last point there is just laughable. This is why Hollywood always adapts fantasy stories nowadays rather than writing it's own, even though writing it's own would be cheaper, allow them to tailor ideas more, and so on. This is the "magic formula", and it's openly known!

That there are some duds as well doesn't detract from the general point, because the dud:hit ratio seems to be very much better when Hollywood works from someone else's solid story. The concern here is justified - they don't appear to be working from any kind of D&D story, not even an adventure, or someone's campaign or whatever - historically that's lead screenwriters into some really awful scripts before.