Director Courtney Solomon Talks 'Dungeons & Dragons' Movie

[Warbringer]

From what I could tell of the interview with Courney Solomon his argument seems to be that having Warner Brothers' backing and resources will allow him to make the movie he always wanted to.

I get the impression that Wrath and Book were simply made to extend the rollover while he waited for big money. However, at the end of the day it will take strong characters to make the movie successful, not just some junk put together that has nothing to do with the brand.

The obvious is Dizzt with RA selling some 17million books (not all D, but most), followed probably by Raistlin and the Companions. Building a relationship with iconic characters will be crucial to building a successful film going experience.

That does require Hasbro permission (and I think they should do this anyway regardless of the "Chainmail" movie) and probably $200MM budget

 

[Nytmare]

That is a real issue. In any field, I always wonder why some people who do poor work get rewarded for it. This guy keeps getting millions of dollars to produce bad movies. Surely there's some young/fringe/foreign/unknown director the studio would be better served giving a shot to than a guy who's record looks like this.

Not that it is true in this case, but as an industry insider, I have to say that it is absolutely STAGGERING how many lower budget productions operate solely off of finding gullible people with tons of money, and convincing them that this is their big chance to be a rockstar-famous, Hollywood bigshot.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Not that it is true in this case, but as an industry insider, I have to say that it is absolutely STAGGERING how many lower budget productions operate solely off of finding gullible people with tons of money, and convincing them that this is their big chance to be a rockstar-famous, Hollywood bigshot.

I'm not debating that. I'm only saying that after the D&D movies that we have, the person behind them doesn't deserve another chance.

 

[Nytmare]

I'm not debating that. I'm only saying that after the D&D movies that we have, the person behind them doesn't deserve another chance.

And what I'm saying is that someone who has a deplorable track record only needs to find one sucker who gets stars in their eyes when they're shown a BS cast list and who doesn't know that the IMDB exists.

 

[Umbran]

I find it hard to believe there are that many suckers with tens of millions of dollars they can pour into a movie.

 

[Jester David]

Wait now, that's also out of context. He makes fine movies in terms of return on investment. Millions are being tied up, for a relatively short period of time, in order to get back out those same millions, and then turn a relatively decent profit on those millions. That we think the movies are bad is not really relevant to whether he's doing his job of making the investors money.

According to Box Office Mojo the D&D movie lost 12 million dollars, American Haunting made 14 mil, and Getaway is on track to lose 5-10 million. All before marketing.
So his track record is low.

Production is mostly about raising money, and making sure everyone else does their job. It's one of the least creative jobs involved with making the movie, apart from the begging and mollifying egos (which sometimes takes creativity).

Producers do choose and hire writers and commission scripts, often setting mandates on the script. So they have creative input that way. And some place more pressure on directors.