D&D Movie/TV Hasbro Getting Out Of The Movie Business

While Hasbro is forging ahead with its own Dungeons & Dragons video game, following the massive success of Baldur's Gate 3, the future of its film involvement is less rosy. In an article with Bloomberg featuring Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, it was revealed that the company won't be co-financing future movies following the underperformance of Honor Among Thieves and Transformers One.

The focus is moving towards video games. Cocks said to Bloomberg, "We want to reach fans where they want to play, and increasingly that is through digital expressions of their favorite brands".

Sony and Lions Gate will continue to make movies based on Hasbro properties, but Hasbro won't be involved in the financing.

Hasbro Confirms New Unannounced Dungeons & Dragons Video Game in Development

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has confirmed that an in-house studio is developing an unannounced Dungeons & Dragons video game. In a feature posted today on Bloomberg News, Cocks stated that Hasbro was actively developing a Dungeons & Dragons video game via one of its in-house studios. No further...

www.enworld.org

 

[Distracted DM]

How do you get out of something you were never really in?

Transformers movies were pretty big.

 

[Umbran]

I find trouble with that thinking. Isn't that post hoc ergo propter hoc?

I don't think, "they made a movie, it got good reviews and ratings, therefore the content of the movie was entertaining" is phepc.

 

[tetrasodium]

Never really thought of that, but it makes absolute sense. Being able to stream past movies or "buy" them from the service certain kills that market.

Killing dollar theaters hurt them too. Sure fees the streaming services pay to host the movies offset that to some degree, but it also nuked the weekly/monthly"movie night" routine for many and people didn't opt for a regular theater if the cheap options were slim and there was something worth splurging on

 

[KYRON45]

I don't think, "they made a movie, it got good reviews and ratings, therefore the content of the movie was entertaining" is phepc.

My point was blaming low turnout on poor advertising was phepc.

 

[Umbran]

My point was blaming low turnout on poor advertising was phepc.

Well, I believe I had dispelled the idea that the content of the movie was the problem.

I said it was likely marketing, or market dynamics - not "poor advertising" specifically. For example, noting that it was sandwiched between two other big movies, at a time in which folks were not going to the movies often, would be market dynamics.

I am not sure what else we might look to other than content, marketing, or market dynamics. If you have another idea, I'm happy to hear it.

 

[KYRON45]

Well, I believe I had dispelled the idea that the content of the movie was the problem.

I said it was likely marketing, or market dynamics - not "poor advertising" specifically. For example, noting that it was sandwiched between two other big movies, at a time in which folks were not going to the movies often, would be market dynamics.

I am not sure what else we might look to other than content, marketing, or market dynamics. If you have another idea, I'm happy to hear it.

My idea is maybe it’s just not that great a movie. It didn’t generate its own buzz.

I’m a fan of both D&D and movies and I didn’t find it any better than the average movie.

I don’t disagree about the marketing. D&D has always had a marketing issue.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I’m a fan of both D&D and movies

I mean, with the best will in the world, when you see someone claiming they're a fan of "movies", generically, you have to think maybe they aren't someone you should be listening to in terms of criticism.

That's like saying your a "fan of television" or a "fan of streaming music". It's a bizarre and meaningless claim and only casts doubt on your own critical evaluation of the subject.

Especially with this claim:

I didn’t find it any better than the average movie.

What a deeply strange thing to say. That contains basically no mean. There's no such thing as an "average movie".

 

[KYRON45]

I mean, with the best will in the world, when you see someone claiming they're a fan of "movies", generically, you have to think maybe they aren't someone you should be listening to in terms of criticism.

That's like saying your a "fan of television" or a "fan of streaming music". It's a bizarre and meaningless claim and only casts doubt on your own critical evaluation of the subject.

Especially with this claim:

What a deeply strange thing to say. That contains basically no mean. There's no such thing as an "average movie".

My opinion isn’t popular I get it.

 

[Umbran]

My idea is maybe it’s just not that great a movie.

That's hard to square with a 90% positive rating, is all.

 

[Parmandur]

That's hard to square with a 90% positive rating, is all.

I mean, high Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic/IMDB critical and user scores doesn't mean everyone has to like a movie...but it does mean that most people who tried it quite liked it. It's not "objective", but it is at least inter-subjective consensus.