How to crush LotR and SW Trilogies!

[Mystery Man]

Hmmm. Maybe a counter?

I'd say maybe the Final Fantasy movie since that is all done in CGI, but the characters are very stiff and not very lifelike. I'd like to see an entire fantasy movie done (no live action) with the same technology used to create Gollum from LOTR. The things that could be done that can't be done using live action just boggle.

 

[Rykion]

A DL movie would need a decent budget. The first two D&D movies will have a negative effect on trying to get that budget. It could be a good movie, but I wouldn't expect huge profits.

 

[Voadam]

I would like it, especially if they axed the whole green gemstone man part of the story the way Peter Jackson excised Tom Bombadill.

 

[Nebulous]

I'd love to see a Dragonlance trilogy, but it couldn't out box-office Rings or SW. And sorry to say, no matter who wrote the screenplay, it would have to differ from the novels in some format. The mediums just demand it. There are chunks of dragonlance that would be real boring to watch on screen...

But for that matter, what about a Drizzt series, Homeland and the others...Drizzt is much more "popular" now than DL, and for studio execs that's the bottom line, where the money market is, not necessarily what will make a better movie.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I'd say maybe the Final Fantasy movie since that is all done in CGI, but the characters are very stiff and not very lifelike. I'd like to see an entire fantasy movie done (no live action) with the same technology used to create Gollum from LOTR. The things that could be done that can't be done using live action just boggle.

At some point in the far, far, far, far future I'd imagine you could get skins like you can get now for those 3D applications that everyone uses to make naked elf chicks. I'm hopeful about that myself (the technology that is, not the elf chicks). There are plenty of local theater companies that have pefectly average actors who could work for cut-rate prices. Skin 'em up into Caramon and Kitara and you have a show.

I'd still argue that such a production would be to a Hollywood blockbuster what a fan-created NWN module is to "Knights of the Old Republic", but it'd be doable.

 

[Staffan]

I'd counter your counter with something else if only there were something else to counter it with!!

 

[Steel_Wind]

It might be successful - it might even be wildly succesful I suppose, but I highly doubt it would outperform LotR. LotR is one of the most successful novels in the history of literature, sitting a few places back just behind the Bible.

Dragonlance has sold close to 20 million copies and is, in its own right, a very successful trilogy. But it's not LotR.

I believe DL could be done and done well by someone who had a true love for the world and series. But it does not need Marg Weis or Tracy Hickman involved. I think, in fact, that would be a mistake. It also does not need a pinch-hit writer involved who's just drawing a paycheque. Like LotR, it needs a screnwriter who loves the work to change it where needed while still respecting the material.

Chances of that happening are low. DL as been optioned several times, but the money to make it has not been ponied up yet. Regrettable really. There are few franchises moving forward in fanbois film right now. Harry Potter and Pirates of the Carribean are about it.

God knows we could use a great fantasy epic.

 

[Odhanan]

It may be successful. But on the sole value of the scenario as opposed to SW and LOTR? I don't think so.

What about A Song of Ice and Fire on the big screen?

 

[cmanos]

I'll go on record saying I would go see a Dragonlance trilogy, but would not go see a Drizzt movie, let alone a trilogy. The tragedyof the whole DL series would be a great thing to see on the screen. The fall of Raislin, the inevitable tragic death of Sturm. The struggle within Tanis when he finds out Kit is a Dragonlord....

I never saw the first D&D movie. I had the SciFi one on in the background a couple weeks ago and what I saw of it reminded me of bad 70's and 80's movies like Sword and Sorcerer, Krull and Beastmaster.

Out of curiosity, who would you cast in the rolls...

 

[Henry]

I was and am a Dragonlance fan. I'll also be the first to admit that a Dragonlance movie would be billed by movie critics (and rightly so) as a "Lord of the Rings imitator." Its first trilogy, while vastly entertaining, borrows so heavily from the LOTR that it flabbergasted me, years later, when I became familiar with Tolkien's trilogy.

Poetry and song an important part? Check.
Secret way into deserted dwarven city?
Exploring said deserted dwarven city? Check.
Story of power corruption by ancient artifacts? Check.
Two groups of elves, one more standoffish than the other but comes around? Check.
Enigmatic Wizard who is more than he seems? Check.
Mysterious death to said wizard, only to come back all holy and more powerful than before? Check.
Return of godlike evil being who threatened the world in the past, and threatens the world now? Check.
Tale of doomed love between "normal" guy and immortal girl? Check.
Heroic Death of foretold doomed Noble Knight defending against the evil? Check.
I'm sure there are other parallels, but I'm not a Tolkien buff.

It's not a play-by-play, certainly, but there are tons of parallels. Dragonlance was the nouveau 1980's role player's LOTR - it was the LOTR version that was approachable by those who considered Tolkien's prose "dense."