D&D Movie/TV Paramount+ Will Not Proceed with Dungeons & Dragons Live-Action TV Show

Deadline reports that the live-action Dungeons & Dragons television series will not continue at Paramount+. The show was originally announced in January 2023 as Paramount+ placed an eight episode straight-to-series order. Normally that’s the best you can hope for in terms of a guarantee of the show happening as the show would produce the entire first season instead of needing to make a pilot to be approved.

Two big corporate changes happened since then, however. First, Hasbro sold the show’s co-producer Entertainment One to Lionsgate in December 2023 and shifted the production to Hasbro Entertainment. Currently, Paramount is searching for a buyer for the company with the current front runner according to reports being Sony Pictures, who have partnered with private equity firms to place a rumored $26 billion offer for the studio.

Little was announced about the plot other than it would be character-focused and involve the Underdark. These tidbits plus the fact that the character of Xenk from the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was originally intended to be Drizzt Do'Urden but changed during pre-production led to speculation that the series would be an adaptation of the Drizzt novels, particularly the origin story novel Homeland.

Creator Rawson Marshall Thurber (Red Notice, Easy A, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) and showrunner Drew Crevello (The Grudge 2, WeCrashed) are still attached to the project. Hasbro will repackage and update the pitch for the show and stop it around to other distributors.

 

[Parmandur]

But once again, the problem is that D&D:HAT was NOT what was seen as D&D in how it appealed to general audiences. Streaming is a far different field than theatrical release, and though it's gotten a lot of momentum, success in streaming has different parameters and numbers than what a theatrical success is.

That said, how successful a theatrical release is and WHY it is or isn't successful can be related to how successful a streaming movie or series could end up as.

In my view, the movie just didn't appeal to general audiences and was NOT what they viewed D&D as.

The numbers show that it wasn't as successful as it many here feel it should have been. It DID have some success on streaming, but not enough to blue light a series. In fact, how it was viewed and the problems it has could be DIRECTLY related to the reticence that has developed in regards to D&D TV series (not just this one, but others that were also in development).

I mean, obviously, it did not light the box office on fire...but the question is, why? Given the general prise the film received for it's tone, which was consistent within the film, and the general success of films with a similar tone, it does not seem reasonable to assume the tone is a reason for the mixed box office. Timing of release, tepid marketing and competition seem more likely culprits.

The exact same movie coming out pre-pandemic, or more firmly post pandemic, away from direct competition like Mario (because come on, D&D and Mario have highly similar targrt audiences and Paeamount was dumb to not see that), or after Baldur's Gate 3 was the toast of the town...could have made a big difference in box office dollars.

 

[mamba]

it's still a minority of the population that plays

pretty sure that is true for any game, TTRPG, board, sports, literally anything...

GotG definately did NOT steal the D&D ideas from D&D from what I see

this I agree with, nothing about GotG screams D&D to me

 

[GreyLord]

I mean, obviously, it did not light the box office on fire...but the question is, why? Given the general prise the film received for it's tone, which was consistent within the film, and the general success of films with a similar tone, it does not seem reasonable to assume the tone is a reason for the mixed box office. Timing of release, tepid marketing and competition seem more likely culprits.

The exact same movie coming out pre-pandemic, or more firmly post pandemic, away from direct competition like Mario (because come on, D&D and Mario have highly similar targrt audiences and Paeamount was dumb to not see that), or after Baldur's Gate 3 was the toast of the town...could have made a big difference in box office dollars.

I gave the reasons above in a post. People on these forums OBVIOUSLY would not want to accept these reasons as most think the D&D movie is the best thing since sliced pie and is exactly representative of what D&D is to everyone.

The thing is though, that it didn't represent what people felt D&D was, ([edit clarification: General audiences] or if it did, represented aspects of fantasy they had NO INTEREST in [edit: Clarification - General audiences who are not players and do not play 5e]. It failed to utilize the D&D name to actually appeal to draw enough audiences in to make a big enough profit to warrant a sequel (currently, things could always happen in the future...ala bladerunner for example).

That combined with how upset many were regarding the OGL fiasco meant that there was some unhappy news about profits and income with its release (and not just the theatrical, despite how many point out how well it did with streaming, it obviously did NOT gain enough from that to warrant a blue lighting of a sequel).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, Gamma World is more unhinged and gonzo than Fallout, alightly more cartoony, at least originally.

I don't think Gamma World media is on Hasbro's radar, but given the big time suc ess of Fallout, a D&D branded 5E ompatible Gamma World TTRPG product seems plausible.

Frankly Metamorphosis Alpha would make a better TV show. Of course that’s even more obscure, even if it is played in one of the Rivers of London novels (to show how hardcore the nerds are, D&D being far too mainstream).

 

[Parmandur]

Frankly Metamorphosis Alpha would make a better TV show. Of course that’s even more obscure, even if it is played in one of the Rivers of London novels (to show how hardcore the nerds are, D&D being far too mainstream).

Also has the distinction disadvantage of not being owned by WotC, unlike Gamma World.

 

[Parmandur]

I gave the reasons above in a post. People on these forums OBVIOUSLY would not want to accept these reasons as most think the D&D movie is the best thing since sliced pie and is exactly representative of what D&D is to everyone.

The thing is though, that it didn't represent what people felt D&D was, ([edit clarification: General audiences] or if it did, represented aspects of fantasy they had NO INTEREST in [edit: Clarification - General audiences who are not players and do not play 5e]. It failed to utilize the D&D name to actually appeal to draw enough audiences in to make a big enough profit to warrant a sequel (currently, things could always happen in the future...ala bladerunner for example).

That combined with how upset many were regarding the OGL fiasco meant that there was some unhappy news about profits and income with its release (and not just the theatrical, despite how many point out how well it did with streaming, it obviously did NOT gain enough from that to warrant a blue lighting of a sequel).

But there is no reason to suppose thwt the tone or type had anything to do with that, since the tone is a popular one even in most successful blockbusters. And the tone is pulled off well, so it seems a non-sequiter to attribut the box office to the film having a popular style and pulling it off successfully.

Being released right next to Mario is a much, much more likely culprit for stalling out at rhw box office, since the Venn overlap in interest there is going to be very, very high (young people who like fantasy and whimsy and middle aged 80's noatalgiacs, like myself, my wife and my kids, and a lot of people I know IRL).

If a studio executive doing an analysis thought the tone was a problem, rather than releasing right next to major direct competition, they would be incompetent at their job.

 

[bedir than]

The Skydance seems certain to go through now.
Notable for us is that Skydance is working with the Honor Among Thieves writer-director duo on a Ryan Reynolds project already.
Also, David Ellison seems to be the very rare GenX Hollywood leader.

 

[Parmandur]

The Skydance seems certain to go through now.
Notable for us is that Skydance is working with the Honor Among Thieves writer-director duo on a Ryan Reynolds project already.
Also, David Ellison seems to be the very rare GenX Hollywood leader.

That would be an interesting development, since Skydance does seem to have a relationship with Hasbro on their own end.

 

[bedir than]

That would be an interesting development, since Skydance does seem to have a relationship with Hasbro on their own end.

Yeah, they're part of the Transformers and GI Joe production

 

[bloodtide]

This is completely false - it might have been true at one time, but these days most of the writers are D&D players themselves. You see D&Disms all the time in mainstream TV and movies.

Not sure this really "proves" anything. You want a show and a character randomly says "he failed a saving throw" and put a lot into that random comment.

But you don’t seem to know much about children. They tend to take fantasy seriously. It’s adults who like humor. This is an actual plot point in The Princess Bride.

Ok, but the adults don't take fantasy seriously.