D&D Movie/TV Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith Join D&D Movie

From Comic Book Movies -- "Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar) and Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu) have joined Wonder Woman 1984's Chris Pine in Paramount and eOne's upcoming big-budget board game adaptation, Dungeons & Dragons..."

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Michelle Rodriguez And Justice Smith Join Chris Pine In Fantasy Adaptation

Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar) and Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu) have joined Wonder Woman 1984's Chris Pine in Paramount and eOne's upcoming big-budget board game adaptation, Dungeons & Dragons...

www.comicbookmovie.com

We learned in December about Chris Pine's involvement, along with directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.

D&D Movie/TV - Chris Pine To Star In D&D Movie

The long, slow process towards a modern take on D&D movies took a large step forward with the announcement of a huge star signed to the project. Considering that filming is set to start soon a cascade of announcements should be revealed in initiative order imminently. Filming begins in Q1 2021...

www.enworld.org

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And let's not forget the awesome Tangerine Dream soundtrack as well. And, if memory serves, that was Tom Cruise's first time as the male lead in a movie.

Johnathan

I honestly do forget the soundtrack, good call. One of the few times where Cruise isn't just playing Tom Cruise, as well. His status has, over the years, weakened his acting considerably. I'd love to see him start challenging himself again, but it seems like he hasn't done since roughly around the time he and Nicole Kidman split? I might be forgetting some oddball film or other he made after that, but I feel like it's been all "Tom Cruise sprints at and/or away from the danger, then jumps off something, then gets hit by a car" The Movie, since then.

I guess there was "What if Groundhogs Day, but also Space War?" The Movie, which didn't do as well as it deserved, but wasn't exactly groundbreaking, either. Still, better than the latest Mission Impossible: Remember When This Was A Spy Thriller Franchise?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But I will add this to the discussion: I thoroughly enjoyed Legend and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Well of course, it's a really good movie.

They think GenericFantasyland, which Forgotten Realms is.

Pseudo-medievalism, castles, knights on horses.

A lot of it comes from Disney animation, which almost the whole planet has seen.

Sounds like Eberron. Eberron has all of that, plus airships.

for the first release of a new franchise, they are likely to stick with classic D&D. Which is what I'm hoping they do, both for my own selfish enjoyment and for the success of the franchise.

I'm hoping they don't do that, for the same reasons. I think classic dnd, which I disagree with as the term is being used, because classic dnd to me either includes the weirdness of very early dnd and thus is very very much not Tolkein, or is more the 2e-3.5 era, which is also much wierder and more diverse and more explosively magical than Tolkien or GoT or the magical disney worlds, has a much more uphill battle to get audience attention than something like Eberron or at least the weirder and less Middle-Earth parts of FR.

 

[Dire Bare]

Well of course, it's a really good movie.

Sounds like Eberron. Eberron has all of that, plus airships.

I'm hoping they don't do that, for the same reasons. I think classic dnd, which I disagree with as the term is being used, because classic dnd to me either includes the weirdness of very early dnd and thus is very very much not Tolkein, or is more the 2e-3.5 era, which is also much wierder and more diverse and more explosively magical than Tolkien or GoT or the magical disney worlds, has a much more uphill battle to get audience attention than something like Eberron or at least the weirder and less Middle-Earth parts of FR.

You got me thinking . . . . a D&D movie based on "classic D&D" as you mention, with that old-school weird fantasy vibe . . . . . I could dig that! A way to start with the "core" but yet distinguish yourself from the Peter Jackson LotR films . . . . probably not going to happen though.

D&D isn't solely a Tolkien pastiche, of course. It has influences from many sources, and when mashing them all together, has created (IMO) a fantasy genre all its own. But still, D&D's core setting and cosmology is heavily influenced by Tolkien, from the very beginning . . . but that got even more pronounced in the 80s, IMO. But D&D's genre is fluid and evolving, and like most genre, very fuzzy and indistinct . . . perfect for arguing over!

 

[Mallus]

Actual criticism is about the traditions of the medium, the artist's intention, the artists' technique, and that sort of thing. "I like X" and "I don't like Y" isn't criticism, it's just opinion wankery.

Yeah, good criticism provides context, not value judgments.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It would be tricky to get audiences to accept magic trains in a movie in which they had absolutely no reason to expecting magic trains

I think this is a factor of age. The old farts who make up a large part of ENWorld's audience came to fantasy in the 1970s and 1980s when, yeah, I can't think of any trains in traditional fantasy.

But today's fantasy fans are more likely to have come to fantasy through anime and videogames where technology levels are all over the place -- Final Fantasy in particular is incredibly hard to pin down -- and it's more about the rule of cool than simulating a medieval world.

I think the youths wouldn't bat an eye at a fantasy movie with airships and lightning rails.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There may be magic involved around that train, but there does not seems to be anything magical about the train itself.

Since J K Rowling claims that wizards used to poop on the floor and vanish it with magic, I suspect there's a whole lot of pointless magic in the Hogwarts Express, especially since wizards are apparently flummoxed by even very simple things found in the Dursleys' kitchen.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I guess there was "What if Groundhogs Day, but also Space War?" The Movie, which didn't do as well as it deserved, but wasn't exactly groundbreaking, either.

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a spectacular film. I think if Cruise hadn't built up so much baggage -- my wife just rolls her eyes at his name now -- it would have been a giant hit. Emily Blunt in particular is amazing.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a spectacular film. I think if Cruise hadn't built up so much baggage -- my wife just rolls her eyes at his name now -- it would have been a giant hit. Emily Blunt in particular is amazing.

Yes, Edge of Tomorrow is a very fun film and I look forward to the sequel planned for it as well.

 

[ART!]

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a spectacular film. I think if Cruise hadn't built up so much baggage -- my wife just rolls her eyes at his name now -- it would have been a giant hit. Emily Blunt in particular is amazing.

Yeah, I found it really fun, too - despite some dumb stuff (mostly Cruise early on being all Cruise-y).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You got me thinking . . . . a D&D movie based on "classic D&D" as you mention, with that old-school weird fantasy vibe . . . . . I could dig that! A way to start with the "core" but yet distinguish yourself from the Peter Jackson LotR films . . . . probably not going to happen though.

D&D isn't solely a Tolkien pastiche, of course. It has influences from many sources, and when mashing them all together, has created (IMO) a fantasy genre all its own. But still, D&D's core setting and cosmology is heavily influenced by Tolkien, from the very beginning . . . but that got even more pronounced in the 80s, IMO. But D&D's genre is fluid and evolving, and like most genre, very fuzzy and indistinct . . . perfect for arguing over!

Honestly, I think the idea that dnd is Tolkeinesque or Psuedo-Medieval is wildly overblown, but yeah it's likely that they'll do something boring and unadventurous, in which case the movie probably won't do well.

It at least needs to actually show some new things that you cannot find in Middle Earth or Grimdarklandia or whatever GoTland is called.

I think this is a factor of age. The old farts who make up a large part of ENWorld's audience came to fantasy in the 1970s and 1980s when, yeah, I can't think of any trains in traditional fantasy.

But today's fantasy fans are more likely to have come to fantasy through anime and videogames where technology levels are all over the place -- Final Fantasy in particular is incredibly hard to pin down -- and it's more about the rule of cool than simulating a medieval world.

I think the youths wouldn't bat an eye at a fantasy movie with airships and lightning rails.

Yeah I can't imagine anyone under 40 having a hard time with magical trains, of all things.

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a spectacular film. I think if Cruise hadn't built up so much baggage -- my wife just rolls her eyes at his name now -- it would have been a giant hit. Emily Blunt in particular is amazing.

It's really good, yeah. I stand by "not groundbreaking", but it is really good.