billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I've read several Drizzt books and, while I've liked most of them, I just don't see making any movies or TV shows about him being a good idea. For all of the obvious reasons...
D&D Movie/TV Could D&D/MtG tv/movies replace Superhero movies?
- Thread starter Henadic Theologian
- Start date
I've been playing D&D for 40 years and have no idea who Everis Cale, Farideh/Havalar/Mehen and Tasha are (other than knowing Tasha's name from the spell). These characters are meaningless to me and I'm smack dab in the middle of the audience for a D&D-branded movie. So creating a "D&D universe" with them is no different than starting with these made-up characters from Honor Among Thieves. Their existence will not lend any assistance to building this cinematic universe because they are just not known enough. Everis Cale would be like Shang-Chi-- a great addition once the world was established... but would be pointless as a foundational building block.
[Just noticed that @Ruin Explorer said the exact same thing as me, LOL.]
Henadic Theologian
Hero
The young audience for D&D has been built up by Stranger Things, the irony is Netflix has already laid a lot of the ground work for this. CR as well.
Also remember the a good chunk of folks who watch Superhero movies now have never read a.comic book in their life. The MCU and DCU were built upon foundations of preexisting fandoms, and social proof expanded it to general audiences from there.
D&D/Forgotten Realms/MtG has that expensive preexisting fan base for such a foundation, easily big enough to create such a foundation, especially if it's backed by a good marketing campaign and a good movie.
I think an R rated D&D movie is coming (BG3 is at minimium R rated if a movie, maybe even NC-17), although an R Rated MtG movie is unlikely as it's really not built into the setting like The Forgotten Brothel, er I mean the Forgotten Realms.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
What exactly is a movie? How does it differ from TV? Does it differ at all, or is it just an expensive TV show?
wicked cool
Adventurer
no
whats happened in the last 2 years was marvel tried to sell me (i cant speak for anyone else) on the lesser super hero movies and dc has tried as well. these movies arent very good. black widow is just an ok movie and many of the shows etc are just ok.
I find what hbo is doing to the batgiel movie fascinating. Theya re seeing that these movies arent going to make real money so scrap the investment all together. Im hoping other studios see this and say ok heres 100 million but we expect X in profits and if its projected less than that then scrap it
Westerns were basically replaced by cop dramas but i would argue that those shows will be more memorable in the long run than the marvel/dc shows . i would argue that the acting in say Bonanza (first western that comes to mind) is better than any marvel or dc show on today. the 60's-70's has made some great television
noticed that a lot of these shows have 1 really good actor/actress that carries the show but the supporting casts arent as good
star wars/super heroes- moon knight-1 really good actor, Kenobi-1 good actor. kid is ok but not carrying the show. Wandavision etc good casts but not breakout casts
i love D&D/fantasy so im hoping to certain series get greelit but in the end no . netflix/hbo/amazon etc are the places to this for now
whats happened in the last 2 years was marvel tried to sell me (i cant speak for anyone else) on the lesser super hero movies and dc has tried as well. these movies arent very good. black widow is just an ok movie and many of the shows etc are just ok.
I find what hbo is doing to the batgiel movie fascinating. Theya re seeing that these movies arent going to make real money so scrap the investment all together. Im hoping other studios see this and say ok heres 100 million but we expect X in profits and if its projected less than that then scrap it
Westerns were basically replaced by cop dramas but i would argue that those shows will be more memorable in the long run than the marvel/dc shows . i would argue that the acting in say Bonanza (first western that comes to mind) is better than any marvel or dc show on today. the 60's-70's has made some great television
noticed that a lot of these shows have 1 really good actor/actress that carries the show but the supporting casts arent as good
star wars/super heroes- moon knight-1 really good actor, Kenobi-1 good actor. kid is ok but not carrying the show. Wandavision etc good casts but not breakout casts
i love D&D/fantasy so im hoping to certain series get greelit but in the end no . netflix/hbo/amazon etc are the places to this for now
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I'm pretty sure the audience of Stranger Things consists mostly of people old enough to feel nostalgic about the 1980s. It's not a young person's show.
Scribe
Legend
None of those at all, in any way, have the global popular appeal of the big named Hero's.
It's a completely different scale.
Henadic Theologian
Hero
You'd be every wrong about that, the 80's are huge for Millenials and Zoomers, I think to a lesser the 90s are too, hence why Friends has gotten such a huge resurgence in popularity.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I wouldn’t be too sure about that. One survey I found right away has the younger cohort with the strongest viewership. Stranger Things viewership in the U.S. by age 2017 | Statista
With most of the protagonists being kids, lots of kids (and that includes 20-somethings) will watch it.
bedir than
Hero
Another issue is that no, D&D, will not replace an entire genre. Superhero films aren't just a single brand. They are a massive mess of brands, some very successful and others not.
Will fantasy replace superheroes? Maybe, but to do so there must be a leading brand that centers hope and fellowship - like the MCU (and it seems both Wheel and D&D) - not despair (hello DC and Game of Thrones).
Will fantasy replace superheroes? Maybe, but to do so there must be a leading brand that centers hope and fellowship - like the MCU (and it seems both Wheel and D&D) - not despair (hello DC and Game of Thrones).
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Might want to screenshot that, Statista is blocking me until I give them money, I dunno if it is to others.
But I mean I agree - it seems from people I know and what I've seen online that actually the main ST audience is people who either weren't alive when it was set or were tiny babies (like the showrunners/writers, btw - they were born in 1984 so were tiny babies until the '90s).
Vaalingrade
Legend
I've been watching the 'Superheroes are dying as a genre' proclamations since before Iron Man came out.
Stop trying to make Fetch happen. It's not going to catch on.
Stop trying to make Fetch happen. It's not going to catch on.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
That's... really weird. I can get to it sometimes, but now I'm getting blocked on some links too. So here's the screenshot:
Your personal level of excitement isn't really a great indicator, though.
So, D&D has a leg up in the RPG market, due to long standing familiarity - it was first, so it is recognized.
The media market is much larger than the RPG market. In the movie market, Superheroes have a leg up because they have a long standing familiarity the likes of which D&D has not attained, even counting D&D's current success.
The folks making D&D movies have not yet so much as worked out how to make solid fantasy movies. Predicting them as the "next big thing" is rather premature.
We are not "after the pandemic". The pandemic still exists, and is still having impacts on behavior and economy, however much people choose to ignore that.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I only have my own experience to draw on, but I've had to explain the appeal of the show to my 30-something friends. And I haven't heard it mentioned in playground chatter, unlike The OA, which seemed to have built up a substantial teenage following before it was axed.
You have to be very careful with statistics, and their visualizations. We cannot tell for sure that there's shenanigans to prove a point in there, but note - those columns are not the same width. The 1st column is 11 years, the second is 14 years, the third and fourth buckets only 9 years each, and the last bucket indeterminate. And, lots of potential audience is under 18, and they aren't present in the chart at all!
That should give us pause about drawing conclusions from this information.
wicked cool
Adventurer
strongly disagree. its mostly young who are under 20
Dropped 50% as compared to what point in time? This data is meaningless without that information
For example, global box office overall dropped 50% in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic times. So, it may be the MCU is merely tracking with the global trend, which would suggest the relative popularity of the movies remains unchanged.
2021 Global Box Office Down 50 Percent From Pre-Pandemic Times: MPA Report
Not all is lost, however. The annual report from the Motion Picture Association says the theatrical business will recover from COVID-19 and also trumpets the rise of streaming.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
