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

[Traycor]

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.

Movies are basically a gambling game. Hence studios check off as many boxes as they can to mitigate the risk.

License a known property that has a fanbase: check. Use known/popular characters: check. Pick known actor that has fans: check. And on and on and on. That's why lots of movies are formulaic and boring. Movies are designed and conceived to mitigate risk.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Guys, you all know Elminster will be in the movie. It's gonna happen. There is almost 0% chance of no Elminster.

And Minsc is one of the most popular FR characters. They gave him a comic book, and put in Neverwinter Online, and use him to promote stuff, for a reason.

Either it will be new characters given a quest by Elminster, or it will be Minsc and some other dudes, or it will be a retelling of some FR book involving Drizzt.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Guys, you all know Elminster will be in the movie. It's gonna happen. There is almost 0% chance of no Elminster.

Based on what evidence? It's likely, but I wouldn't say certain.

And Minsc is one of the most popular FR characters. They gave him a comic book, and put in Neverwinter Online, and use him to promote stuff, for a reason.

Yes, he is well known, but not as well known as a few other characters, like Elminster, Drizzt, and possibly one of the Silverhands.

Either it will be new characters given a quest by Elminster, or it will be Minsc and some other dudes, or it will be a retelling of some FR book involving Drizzt.

Still, I don't think anything is guaranteed. There's not much we know about the plot.

 

[Traycor]

Guys, you all know Elminster will be in the movie. It's gonna happen. There is almost 0% chance of no Elminster.

And Minsc is one of the most popular FR characters. They gave him a comic book, and put in Neverwinter Online, and use him to promote stuff, for a reason.

Either it will be new characters given a quest by Elminster, or it will be Minsc and some other dudes, or it will be a retelling of some FR book involving Drizzt.

These scenarios are all likely. However, I don't think it's a given. The directors/producer may be able to push back if their vision is strong enough, and the paymasters agree. The point is, the creators will have to fight to avoid the scenarios mentioned above.

 

[Traycor]

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.

Agree 1000%. The old characters were extremely iconic because they had to be. That included appearance, dialogue, and concept. They were silhouettes.

By contrast, the wizard and cleric companions in BG3 are generic. If you drew pictures of them, no one would even know it was them because they could be any random elf and bearded guy in a fantasy setting. Even a 5 year old can draw Minsc or Drizzt, and you know exactly who they are. Modern CRPGs lack this.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

These scenarios are all likely. However, I don't think it's a given. The directors/producer may be able to push back if their vision is strong enough, and the paymasters agree. The point is, the creators will have to fight to avoid the scenarios mentioned above.

That assumes the creators don’t like the idea of adapting a popular story or character from FR.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Based on what evidence? It's likely, but I wouldn't say certain.

Yes, he is well known, but not as well known as a few other characters, like Elminster, Drizzt, and possibly one of the Silverhands.

Still, I don't think anything is guaranteed. There's not much we know about the plot.

He’s definitely more well known than any Silverhand.

They aren’t gonna use FR and just ignore well known FR characters. Movies like this are adaptations. If they wanted a new thing they’d be using a new world.

 

[Traycor]

Yes, he is well known, but not as well known as a few other characters, like Elminster, Drizzt, and possibly one of the Silverhands.

If you consider the broader video game audience, Minsc is far more known than Elminster, even if the old wizard is prominent in the P&P RPG products. Minsc has a lot of broad exposure that Elminster doesn't have. Only Drizzt is more well-known, but Minsc would beat out any of the secondary Drizzt characters. The Silverhands would be way down on the list behind characters like Jarlaxle or Bruenor.

Drizzt is Wolverine, the Companions of the Hall are the X-men. Minsc is Draxx. Elminster is... Agent Colson? lol

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

That assumes the creators don’t like the idea of adapting a popular story or character from FR.

Yes, because I am sure that they're not adapting a popular story or character into the movie. Why would they just take an already made story and make a movie out of it? That's not new. I don't know anyone who would go watch a Drizzt movie after reading the book.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

He’s definitely more well known than any Silverhand.

They aren’t gonna use FR and just ignore well known FR characters. Movies like this are adaptations. If they wanted a new thing they’d be using a new world.

Yes, he probably is. That's not the point of making a D&D movie. They wouldn't create a whole new world for an already risky movie. You keep certain things similar to appeal to a broader audience, and then change things like character and plot to have a new story that is also more appealing.