D&D Movie/TV D&D Movie Moves Forward With Deal With Former Marvel Exec Jeremy Latcham

[bedir than]

Marvel picked Iron Man because the rights to most of their known characters were gone. They had to put up the rights to their remaining characters as collateral to even get the funding. To this day, the Hollywood trades write articles full of awe and wonder that Marvel was able to launch their franchise with a character that was so little known.

The reason? It was a crazy gamble. Movie studios don't take gambles like that.

Paramount took that gamble

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Iron Man wasn't well known before his movie came out. This is true for many MCU heroes. This could apply to D&D characters, as there are around 15 million D&D players in the US. I don't know how many of them would understand an Elminster or Minsc and Boo reference, but I think it would be rewarding if they put it in.

The thing is, Iron Man was an interesting character in his own right, regardless of how well known he was. Minsc and Boo are interesting characters in their own right. Elminster is a setting-breaking cliché.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

He could fit in if it was an epic fate-of-the-multiverse type movie where for some reason he had to team up with his equivalents from other crystal spheres (ie. Mordenkainen, Raistlin Majere, etc.)

Trouble is there'd be absolutely no audience for that. 9/10 "Elminister-types" are pompous, self-regarding, smug, rude, disagreeable old men with bad beards, most of whom are sociopaths, and all of whom have terrible dress sense. Then you've Raistlin I guess standing next to them looking all emo and grimacing a lot.

It could work as a comedy, I guess, like a really broad comedy where they were clearly all idiots.

Minsc and Boo are interesting characters in their own right.

Oh come on, now you're just being silly.

Minsc is not an "interesting character". He doesn't have a personality. He's basically Magnitude from Community, there solely to say his catchphrase at appropriate moments. Instead of "Pop pop!" it's "Go for the eyes Boo!". Boo isn't a character at all. He's a pet. Who doesn't do anything. I love him but he's not someone you could tell a story about, because there's nothing to him (which is, ironically, part of why he's popular - most other BG characters have kind of annoying backstories/personalities).

But, but, but BUT! I would watch ten Minsc + Boo movies before I watched one Elminister movie, so I agree there. We can I think thank our lucky stars that Sean Connery is now way too old for the part or Greenwood would probably be basically camped outside WotC HQ trying to convince them to make that happen (there's like a clear moment in late 2E or early 3E when Elminister suddenly shifts to obviously being played by Sean Connery).

The FR doesn't really have a lot of workable characters who are also popular with the readers/players.

Drizzt would be an obvious choice (starting AFTER he left the Underdark and was well clear of the BDSM/slavery/etc.) but I just dunno if WotC wants to engage with something that, on-screen, will be as "problematic" as Drow. In animated feature, sure, you can make them very dark grey (an inhuman colour) and with inhuman features, but with actual human actors? Hmmmmmm. Maybe you could manage it but you're teetering on the edge of blackface (I know some people just don't get this "That's what Drow look like!", and bless their hearts, but they have no useful input if they don't get it), and for what gain? So I think he'll stay in games (and/or animated stuff). Especially with Jarlaxle who makes the whole "blackface" angle so much worse by insisting on literally dressing like a pimp.

I mean, people like Alias (inc. Dragonbait and so on) or Shandril (the spellfire lady) could work too, but does anyone even remember or care about them (I mean, I do re: Alias but I suspect very few people do).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Trouble is there'd be absolutely no audience for that. 9/10 "Elminister-types" are pompous, self-regarding, smug, rude, disagreeable old men with bad beards, most of whom are sociopaths, and all of whom have terrible dress sense.

Basically "Elminster types" = Rick Sanchez.

Minsc is not an "interesting character". He doesn't have a personality. He's basically Magnitude from Community, there solely to say his catchphrase at appropriate moments. Instead of "Pop pop!" it's "Go for the eyes Boo!". Boo isn't a character at all. He's a pet. Who doesn't do anything. I love him but he's not someone you could tell a story about, because there's nothing to him (which is, ironically, part of why he's popular - most other BG characters have kind of annoying backstories/personalities).

Minsc is certainly a stock character, and no one would ever consider him as the protagonist, but he is a fun type of stock character. He is basically Drax with a hamster.

Boo though - Boo is awesome. You think he is a regular hamster and Minsc is a fruitcake? Have you noticed the BG trilogy takes place over several years? Do you know the lifespan of a normal hamster?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Minsc is certainly a stock character, and no one would ever consider him as the protagonist, but he is a fun type of stock character. He is basically Drax with a hamster.

Yes. I mean Drax and he are definitely the same character, they even have a very similar appearance. I definitely wouldn't mind him being in a movie.

I'm well-aware that Boo is a very special being. He just isn't a character though, not even to the degree of say, Groot.

Guardians of the Galaxy might not be a terrible model for a Baldur's Gate movie now you point this out though!

Basically "Elminster types" = Rick Sanchez.

Ouch, yeah.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you want a bit of semi-serious comment, the original Baldur's Gate game didn't have the budget or disk space for much dialogue, so the companion characters, in order to make them memorable with only a few lines and a stock portrait, where all quite extreme archetypes. Superheroes, being based on comic books (limited text and sometimes basic art) also tend to be extreme characters. GotG took that and dialled it up to 11.

I do find companion characters in modern CRPGs, with elaborate backstories and gigabytes of fully voiced dialogue, are rather boring.

NB Dave Bautista was one of the names they where looking to attach to the D&D movie - I think that was the previous iteration though.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It's hard to remember a time before the MCU, but Iron Man was absolutely a gamble. Casting RDJ, a gamble. Heck, even The Avengers was a risk. Marvel's heaviest hitters at the time had been licensed out in the 90s when the company was on the ropes (looks at old longboxes with scads of hologram, glow-in-the-dark, and foil alt covers).

Marvel picked Iron Man because the rights to most of their known characters were gone. They had to put up the rights to their remaining characters as collateral to even get the funding. To this day, the Hollywood trades write articles full of awe and wonder that Marvel was able to launch their franchise with a character that was so little known.

The reason? It was a crazy gamble. Movie studios don't take gambles like that.

Minsc and Boo are like nails on a chalkboard for me. Maybe it's because I never got into the main Baldur's Gate series (Dark Alliance is another story, though). I think we could see him appear as cameo (and I think existing characters will mostly appear as such), but the idea of a whole movie staring Minsc would...not be my thing.

The problem with using existing characters more heavily than that is that they just don't have the same cultural penetration as comic book heroes. Most people, even before the MCU, could identify The Hulk and Captain America, for example. Most people wouldn't know Minsc, Elminster, Drizzt, and the like.

Minsc is not an "interesting character". He doesn't have a personality. He's basically Magnitude from Community, there solely to say his catchphrase at appropriate moments. Instead of "Pop pop!" it's "Go for the eyes Boo!". Boo isn't a character at all. He's a pet. Who doesn't do anything. I love him but he's not someone you could tell a story about, because there's nothing to him (which is, ironically, part of why he's popular - most other BG characters have kind of annoying backstories/personalities).

 

[Traycor]

Paramount took that gamble

Yes they did, because they were guaranteed the rights to the characters if the movie flopped. And they were only distributing. It's a far different situation from this D&D movie. If it flops, everyone loses, so they are going to do everything they can to make it a winner (known characters, big actors, whatever).

 

[Traycor]

The problem with using existing characters more heavily than that is that they just don't have the same cultural penetration as comic book heroes. Most people, even before the MCU, could identify The Hulk and Captain America, for example. Most people wouldn't know Minsc, Elminster, Drizzt, and the like.

If studios only cared about characters that were known throughout the culture, they would license the film rights to almost nothing. They want some kind of fanbase, preferably a very loyal fanbase that will get excited and spread the word. In the example of Minsc, he has lots of fans from the games that don't care about D&D one way or another, but they'll talk about a movie he is in. He also has fans from the comics. Fans of Forgotten Realms will promote the film whether he is in it or not, and fans of D&D will promote it if he is in it or not. Minsc fits everything they want/need. Similar situation with Drizzt.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Any D&D movie will be a gamble. Technically, any movie is a gamble between success and failure. A D&D movie can be done well, like nearly any type of movie. They could try to make it more risky with more characters to appeal to fans, when they could take the safe route with a generic plot.