D&D Movie/TV Could D&D/MtG tv/movies replace Superhero movies?

[Oofta]

Heh, just imagine what the future might be though.

Say we see an MCU level of explosion after the Honor Among Thieves movie. We get the same meteoric trajectory as the MCU. One great movie (Iron Man) and handful of pretty meh movies (Thor 1, Iron Man 2 and 3, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few others) that somehow gel into a major media sensation in Avengers.

Then D&D gets bought out by the big boys - Disney maybe? And, ten years from now, we'll all be bitching about how the House of Mouse is ruining our hobby.

LOL.

Maybe we could get a new ride at Disneyland?

 

[Scott Christian]

I think when the cinematic composition shifts, it generally swings in the opposite direction. I find it hard to believe it will shift from fantasy-superhero to fantasy-magic. Most likely, the shift will be from fantasy-superhero to realism. I think movies like Die Hard, Saving Private Ryan, Good Will Hunting, etc.

As always, it will be mixed. But as far as the dominant movies style/theme, I think we are going to shift to realism.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I would definitely watch a Saw/Cube-style deal with The Tomb of Horrors but I don't think that'll ever actually happen sadly.

The problem with adapting ToH is that it would be at cross-purposes with itself.

To make a true ToH that D&D fans of the classic module actually would say was a great adaptation... it would mean fully embracing the R-rated deathtrap dungeon. Characters getting impaled on pit trap spikes... someone's arm being cut off when they stuck it into the devil's mouth / portal of annihilation... the tapestries of green slime melting the bodies of people... someone getting ported into the prison chamber on the far side of the flying swords & shields and getting cut to shreds when they tried to walk back into the pillared chamber... a bunch of characters getting knocked out by the sleeping gas and then run over by the elephant steamroller, etc. etc. etc.

These are things the audience would have to witness for it to be a Tomb of Horrors movie... but at the same time there's no way in hell the studio would be able to market it as a Dungeons & Dragons Tomb of Horrors movie. An R-rated movie as part of a PG-13 franchise? Never in a million years would they do that. Cause all you'd need is a bunch of parents who don't pay attention taking their 10 year olds to see the "new D&D movie"... only to freak out when the crap hits the fan. Studios would never risk it.

But then again... if you aren't going to use the D&D branding for the film, why would you bother adapting ToH in the first place? That's pointless. And if you do use the D&D branding, you'd have to make ToH PG-13, and thereby nerf the entire reason for doing ToH in the first place-- a bunch of PG-13 "death"traps. No point. You might as well adapt White Plume Mountain instead if you aren't able to embrace the module for what it is.

 

[billd91]

Tell that to Tom Cruise whose Top Gun Maverick is still making money hand over fist in threatres.

Sure, but its success also underscores that there's still relatively little going on compared to other pre-pandemic summer schedules. This is, in no small part, why Warner Brothers is changing its strategy away from streaming and back to the theaters and why the streaming-only Batgirl and Scoob were shelved. The streaming strategy for major movies has been a way to keep putting out content and keep revenue flowing but I think we're also seeing that streamed movies aren't reaching the same heights of profitability or cultural impact as the studios want their movies to have. They all want a piece of that Top Gun: Old Geezer pie.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

nd if you do use the D&D branding, you'd have to make ToH PG-13, and thereby nerf the entire reason for doing ToH in the first place-- a bunch of PG-13 "death"traps.

I actually disagree but you're right to say it's a "late in the franchise" thing - ToH is the movie you'd make when your original PG-13 audience were "all grown up", and wanted an edgier take on related material. So you could absolutely make it R-rated (and lower-budget - but you wouldn't need a huge budget for ToH, funnily enough - it's basically single-location and indoors), just with the expectation that you're targeting a specific audience and you're not going for the same broad appeal as the "mainstream" stuff (but again, the budget would be much lower). It still would serve to build the franchise, particularly long-term.

But yeah it won't happen because we'd need to be like 10+ years into successful D&D material before it was worthwhile. The bottom is going to fall out of this whole thing before that, I'd suspect.

 

[Mort]

I think when the cinematic composition shifts, it generally swings in the opposite direction. I find it hard to believe it will shift from fantasy-superhero to fantasy-magic. Most likely, the shift will be from fantasy-superhero to realism. I think movies like Die Hard, Saving Private Ryan, Good Will Hunting, etc.

As always, it will be mixed. But as far as the dominant movies style/theme, I think we are going to shift to realism.

I don't know, people have always gravitated to larger than life escapist fun - and I'm not sure realism gets us there. At least not on a "blockbuster" level.

Now "enhanced", over the top "realism," like Die Hard and the Fast and Furious Franchise (which has grossed MASSIVE money) that may be more and more of a thing.

We'll just have to see how the 2023 movie does, if it hits HUGE then it could form a trend.

Heck Warcraft (2016) was, I'm sure hoping for a whole movie line. But the first one was a near flop in the US (under $50 million gross) though International Box Office saved it (maybe, who knows what the overhead was).

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Yeah this. It's not going to happen. D&D/MtG movies could, potentially, do decently and make quite a lot of money, F&F-style, but the idea that they're going to be MCU2: Electric Boogaloo is, well, beyond far-fetched and into the realms of "fansy" as Shakespeare might have put it.


Yup.


Blaming Ezra Miller for the DCU's problems is like blaming the spotters on the Titanic. The reality is, it was a systemic failure (not to get too diverted but the Titanic was "driving dangerously", with bad information, the spotters didn't have the tools to do their jobs, and the safety systems weren't designed with the anticipation of taking a hit like that - among many other factors).

If the DCU management/leadership were remotely function, not a completely bunch of numbskulls (on so many levels) then bad behaviour from one star who hasn't even had a solo film couldn't damage them. I mean, you think if Mark Ruffalo or Chris Pratt suddenly got implicated as a cannibal (y'know, like a certain other Hollywood fellow) that Marvel would be "in chaos"? I don't - and both of them have solo films, even! They'd just kill off the character Poochie-style and move on. The MCU is like a shark not only in that it keeps moving forwards, but also in that it's continually growing new teeth. Every character has some other variant (in some cases literally a Variant) of that character waiting in the wings. They're up-armoured against this.

The MCU is not doing as great as it was for a lot of reasons (becoming "boring" being one, repetition and overfamiliarity will do that), but the DCU has been a screaming car crash of a mess from day 1. The only remotely together films they've put out in the last decade have been Aquaman and Shazam (of all people! The two most laughable/embarrassing/least-known "major" DC heroes), and I guess the Gunn-helmed Suicide Squad stuff. All of which is wildly tonally different (though notable all kind of more fun/colourful than the Synder/Nolan stuff - both of whom are good movie-makers but haven't always hit it out of the park with Supers). Oh I guess the new Batman was also pretty good, but was another entirely different tone, and seems to be set in a separate universe.



Spot-on. And those people (er... including me) evangelised about Iron Man and how it looked like a good movie being "done right".

But yeah as you say, who in D&D has that? Drizzt kinda but he's also a figure of fun. Dragonlance kinda, but you have two ornery and kind of silly people in charge of it, who would, no doubt, want to be mess around with and have public opinions on it. Annnnnd that's about it? What are we going to do, The Prism Pentad?

I would definitely watch a Saw/Cube-style deal with The Tomb of Horrors but I don't think that'll ever actually happen sadly.

For FR you have Everis Cale, Farideh/Havalar/Mehen, Elminster, The ToT Saga, I guess Tasha now (FR Immigrant or Tourist), Evermeet & Cormyr novels.

I mean Drizzt is the biggest name and I have no doubt he gets a movie and /or TV show if HAT doesn't tank, heck if things are already in motion he might get a movie or TV show even if HAT tanks (wich I doubt it will, especially since the bar for success is so much lower then the Marvel movies).

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Sure, but its success also underscores that there's still relatively little going on compared to other pre-pandemic summer schedules. This is, in no small part, why Warner Brothers is changing its strategy away from streaming and back to the theaters and why the streaming-only Batgirl and Scoob were shelved. The streaming strategy for major movies has been a way to keep putting out content and keep revenue flowing but I think we're also seeing that streamed movies aren't reaching the same heights of profitability or cultural impact as the studios want their movies to have. They all want a piece of that Top Gun: Old Geezer pie.

We should all be as fit and healthy as that "Geezer" Tom Cruise. The dude has his shirt off in the movie, and he 's ripped. Still hasome too.

 

[payn]

I actually disagree but you're right to say it's a "late in the franchise" thing - ToH is the movie you'd make when your original PG-13 audience were "all grown up", and wanted an edgier take on related material. So you could absolutely make it R-rated (and lower-budget - but you wouldn't need a huge budget for ToH, funnily enough - it's basically single-location and indoors), just with the expectation that you're targeting a specific audience and you're not going for the same broad appeal as the "mainstream" stuff (but again, the budget would be much lower). It still would serve to build the franchise, particularly long-term.

But yeah it won't happen because we'd need to be like 10+ years into successful D&D material before it was worthwhile. The bottom is going to fall out of this whole thing before that, I'd suspect.

This would make a really good straight to stream movie. For theatrical release? Im not so sure it would be easy to do or a good investment. However, if you released it as a Halloween special it might actually work as a wide release.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

For FR you have Everis Cale, Farideh/Havalar/Mehen, Elminster, The ToT Saga, I guess Tasha now (FR Immigrant or Tourist), Evermeet & Cormyr novels.

DUDE.

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.

I'm an FR fan, like an long-term FR setting fan.

I have no idea who any of "Everis Cale, Farideh/Havalar/Mehen" are (also those names sound dumb even by FR standards!). You cannot possibly be seriously suggesting that these are major characters people know about. I have no idea what the "Evermeet" novels are either, and I kind of wonder if we're thinking of the same Cormyr ones even.

And no-one wants to see Elminster on screen. He's the very definition of a "Dirty Old Man".

Also jesus dude, the Time of Troubles, do you know when that was last cool? I was a kid barely out of primary school - if I was in the US I'd have been in middle-school, and I'm old geezer in his 40s, and you think we're going to get cool movies about a bunch of boring white people have a scuffle over some totally irrational and dumb-even-back-then Forgotten Realms theology from the late '80s? I mean the ToT was bad enough then. Now? Ooooof.