D&D Movie/TV D&D Movie Hit or Flop?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just saw it tonight and I had a lot of fun, with the caveat that I absolutely hated the exposition dump at the start. It felt like an unwanted prostate exam.

100%.

That bit could have been done in half the time and a quarter of the IP mentions.

Though they were weirded out by how many strange races were just casually showing up in the movie like it was no big deal.

Things did get a bit cantina scene at various points. I'm mildly surprised they didn't end the movie with an ad for Monsters of the Multiverse.

 

[humble minion]

Saw an article talking about a possible sequel and possibly having Drizzt in it. Must've done good enough.

Drizzt is going to be a hard sell, unless you just introduce him in media res without going into his backstory at all. But Drizzt's backstory is pretty much his main selling point and the shaper of his personality.

Pitch guy: So, I want the next D&D movie to include Drizzt!
Studio money guy: Who?
PG: Drizzt! The most famous successful D&D character ever, he's been in like 30 New York Times bestsellers!
SMG: Still never heard of him. But 30 bestsellers ... you have my attention. Who is this guy?
PG: He's the one good member of an evil race of elves, you can tell they're evil because they're black while all the good elves are white. But his black-skinned race rejects him for his good ways, and he has to flee black elf society and make a new home with a bunch of white-skinned blond- or red-headed kinda-Nordic people who understand goodness!
SMG: ...
PG: [expectant grin]
SMG: ...
SMG: You're high, right?

Drizzt is formative for me. 14yo me reading Drizzt novels is the reason 40something year old me is posting on this website. I grew out of the books eventually, but they still have a special place in my heart. But the Drizzt backstory just ain't gonna fly in 2023. Maybe you could include him as a cameo, or in a background scene as an easter egg like the cartoon characters were. But even then, it's not without complexities. For instance, to have anything resembling the traditional drow charcoal skin tone, you'd probably need to put an actor in something uncomfortably resembling blackface.

It depends a bit on who the filmmakers think their primary target audience is. If they're making films for long-established D&D fans, then yeah, they miiiight try to do it somehow. If they're trying to build Edgin and Holga and co their own following, and sell to an audience that comes from outside D&D fandom and is attracted by the movie characters, then I suspect they might steer clear.

 

[Older Beholder]

All of a sudden everyone is Grace Randolph, lol.

Hopefully it can do a Puss in Boots : the last wish (a similar film in a lot of ways, although Puss 2 was better) which had a modest opening but was still making money at the box office even after it was released digitally.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dungeons & Dragons had a true neutral opening box office weekend

Honor Among Thieves starts off solidly in the middle-tier of 2023 blockbusters

www.polygon.com

 

[teitan]

GI Joe has a decades long established toy line to fall back on.
You forgot an IMHO.

Situations are very different.

Even if it flops a little bit *vs a bomb) they may make sequels die tovword of mouth, screening etc and they may be really determined treating part 1 as a loss leader.

Scrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeech… and D&D doesn’t have a 50 year old game at its highest peak to fall back on? GI Joe was coming out when no one cared, and still do not care, about GI Joe but Paramount is still making GI Joe movies.

 

[teitan]

All of a sudden everyone is Grace Randolph, lol.

Hopefully it can do a Puss in Boots : the last wish (a similar film in a lot of ways, although Puss 2 was better) which had a modest opening but was still making money at the box office even after it was released digitally.

Grace Randolph is worse than Ain’t it Cool News or Giant Freaking Robot.

 

[Zardnaar]

Scrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeech… and D&D doesn’t have a 50 year old game at its highest peak to fall back on? GI Joe was coming out when no one cared, and still do not care, about GI Joe but Paramount is still making GI Joe movies.

Difference in scale. In 80s TSR best year was 27 million iirc.

GI Joe was hundreds of millions iirc.

I was there GI Joe. Masters of the Universe, Transformers were huge.

Comparatively D&D was money down the back of the couch.

 

[teitan]

Difference in scale. In 80s TSR best year was 27 million iirc.

GI Joe was hundreds of millions iirc.

I was there GI Joe. Masters of the Universe, Transformers were huge.

Comparatively D&D was money down the back of the couch.

Yeah and GI Joe is still marginal 30 years later while D&D is outperforming it. Let’s look at that 27 million on inflation though. It’s 75 million for one property. One. That is still more than GI Joe is making now or has made for Hasbro in 20+ years. And D&D has consistently been a decent performer for Hasbro since 3.x, even during 4e. GI Joe has not.

I was there for all that too. MOTU and Transformers were my jam. So much so I have about 130 transformers and most of the Origins and Masterverse lines in my house right now. I was 6 when it came out. I was there. I remember. We even had the air craft carrier.

The movie still came out at a low point for GI Joe. It’s still a property only old fans like. D&D is not. It’s a lot younger crowd. Hard to imagine 15 years ago we were worried the hobby was going to die with Gen X.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah and GI Joe is still marginal 30 years later while D&D is outperforming it. Let’s look at that 27 million on inflation though. It’s 75 million for one property. One. That is still more than GI Joe is making now or has made for Hasbro in 20+ years. And D&D has consistently been a decent performer for Hasbro since 3.x, even during 4e. GI Joe has not.

I was there for all that too. MOTU and Transformers were my jam. So much so I have about 130 transformers and most of the Origins and Masterverse lines in my house right now. I was 6 when it came out. I was there. I remember. We even had the air craft carrier.

The movie still came out at a low point for GI Joe. It’s still a property only old fans like. D&D is not. It’s a lot younger crowd. Hard to imagine 15 years ago we were worried the hobby was going to die with Gen X.

Shrugs it's still irrelevant to my thread though. I haven't cared about GI Joe since 1987. Most kinda gt destroyed 1988.

They'll make a sequel or not. See what happens. More money makes that more likely.

 

[teitan]

Shrugs it's still irrelevant to my thread though. I haven't cared about GI Joe since 1987. Most kinda gt destroyed 1988.

They'll make a sequel or nor. See what happens. More money makes that more likely.

Sure. Ok.