D&D Movie/TV Should the D&D Movie Been Serious or Not Called D&D?

[mamba]

Wait. It says it cost 150 million including ad expenses, and gained 208 million. Where did the losses come from?

First, that does not include marketing, just the movie cost, so the total is probably around 250. Second, the cinema gets part of the box office ticket price, it does not all go to the makers of the movie. The rate is somewhere around 50:50.

So the movie cost around 250, they got back 110, leaving a loss of around 140.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Here the most important one is the movie was enough fun to become a fan favorite. In the first Tim Burton's Batman movie Warner lost money because they spent too many money to promote, but now Batman is the most valious IP by Warner.

D&D allows a lot of different styles, not only comedy or kid-friendly fantasy(Witchlight) but also horror (Ravenloft), palace intrigues(Birthright, years before the saga of song of ice and fire) or postapocalipse (Dark Sun).

If you want to tell a good story, then a serie, or mini-serie should be a better option because there is more time to tell more detailes about the plot and the characters.

If you are talking about a serious D&D production, Ravenloft should be the right option. With the right screenwritters you shouldn't need a lot of money for the FXs. Audience could enjoy the story and no lore should be neccesary. I suggest something like the serie "From", or the movies "Ready or not" or "the Invitation".

Birthright is the right option if Paramount wanted a serie with the style Game of Thrones/House of Dragons, but the setting could be radically rebooted.

Planescape could be for an animated comedy for adults style Star Treck: Lower Decks or Ricky&Morty. Why not a pilot episode to test the reaction of the audience?

Any new about the production of Dragonlance?

Radiant Citadel could be a family-friendly animated fantasy comedy.

I suspect Dark Sun is going to be replaced by a spiritual succesor, something like "the demiplane of the desolation".

* Spoiler: Vecna's eye and hand will appear in the post-credit scene of the future G.I.Joe movie.

 

[S'mon]

I think there's a strong case for including a humour element.
For me a big problem was that the world didn't feel lived-in at all, except for the ice tower at the start it all felt like at best a painted theatre backdrop. Compare 1981 Conan the Barbarian, or the Star Wars films, they both did a great job making their fictional universes look lived-in. Even Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty good at this. I think this contributed a lot to the film feeling so fluffy & ephemeral that it never felt that the stakes mattered much, there was almost no effort put into suspension of disbelief. I think this lack of immersion was harmful.

 

[DEFCON 1]

No.

The movie would not have made more money without 'Dungeons & Dragons' in the title, nor if it had a different tone. Not in box office, and more especially not in branding and merchandizing.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

IMO it would have been better to have branded it "Forgotten Realms: Honor Among Thieves". But I think the humor was entirey appropriate.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My opinion is movies with action comedy can enjoy a better box-office than standar epic fantasy. And today producers would rather to adapt a previous work than starting from zero with unknown characters.

The adventage of the RPG worlds to be adapted is the plot doesn't need to be too linked with certain characters, allowing a better creative freedom. And the brand is useful as hook even when you change completely the cast and you start with a new group of heroes.

Maybe there were in the begining some prejudices against the movie thinking it was only for geeks and nerds, when it was created for most of audiences.

If the story is too long, then the audience would rather to watch it at home.

Dark Sun, or a reimaginated version, could be an animation for adults style Primal cartoon.

If it was easy, then all the cinema studios would follow the same style.

 

[Zaukrie]

I don't think a name change matters, but anecdotally, it would have helped with a few people I know.

All I know is that it's lackluster performance hurts our chances of another big fantasy movie any time soon.

 

[Krachek]

This movie is an effective publicity that generate some revenue. Hard to call that a flop in any way.

 

[Zardnaar]

My opinion is movies with action comedy can enjoy a better box-office than standar epic fantasy. And today producers would rather to adapt a previous work than starting from zero with unknown characters.

The adventage of the RPG worlds to be adapted is the plot doesn't need to be too linked with certain characters, allowing a better creative freedom. And the brand is useful as hook even when you change completely the cast and you start with a new group of heroes.

Maybe there were in the begining some prejudices against the movie thinking it was only for geeks and nerds, when it was created for most of audiences.

If the story is too long, then the audience would rather to watch it at home.

Dark Sun, or a reimaginated version, could be an animation for adults style Primal cartoon.

If it was easy, then all the cinema studios would follow the same style.

LotR cough cough. Harry Potter cough cough.

 

[mamba]

This movie is an effective publicity that generate some revenue. Hard to call that a flop in any way.

Actually it is easy. If you spend more on ‘publicity’ than you gain in sales, then the publicity was not worth it