Buying D&D

[Glyfair]

a) A Movie or TV show that blows people away with its greatness;

I have to admit, I'm surprised that WotC wasn't pushing for someone to do a D&D TV series when the LotR and fantasy were at their hottest. It wouldn't have had to be a great as some hope (look at the comments about Sci-Fi's "The Diamond Age"), just at say the Xena level.

 

[Rothe]

Excellent work, Maggan. Thanks. So, as a first stab, D&D brings in around $20 million in revenues and keeps about $2 million. That doesn't justify $30 million by a long shot, so there must be substantial earnings -- say, $4 million more -- coming from somewhere else (e.g. licensing).

If $30 million is accurate, and I have no idea if it is, it may include the assumption of debt that TSR may have wracked up before folding. Annual Reports are where the information will lie if WotC was public when they bought TSR.

 

[kenobi65]

They bought the whole kit-n-kaboodle, including the once-large RPG designer pool and the periodical department that publishes Dragon and Dung.

Snort! Best typo of the week!

 

[Ranger REG]

Snort! Best typo of the week!

Typo?

 

[Ranger REG]

I have to admit, I'm surprised that WotC wasn't pushing for someone to do a D&D TV series when the LotR and fantasy were at their hottest.

They were pushing something at the time, even though film rights have been acquired by Courtney Solomon.

I still want to know how we can steal the film right from him.

 

[kenobi65]

They were pushing something at the time, even though film rights have been acquired by Courtney Solomon.

Yeah, there was a Forgotten Realms TV series under development a few years back, but, IIRC, the project fell through.

 

[Ranger REG]

Yeah, there was a Forgotten Realms TV series under development a few years back, but, IIRC, the project fell through.

Wasn't it Fireworks Entertainment that held the option but had fallen into a financial crisis?

 

[Pramas]

Charles Ryan last year, when he still worked for WOTC posted that their average hardback sold in the hundred of thousands.

I imagine Charles was referring to the three core rulebooks here, not any D&D hardback. Based on the numbers I saw when I was at WotC and what I hear from distributors today, my educated guess would be that books like Player's Handbook II may sell 50,000 units or so while everything else save core books sells less than that to varying degrees.