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

 

[Azzy]

ThevD&D movie isn't really for us though not is it arguing about what is D&D.

It's going to be made to appeal to the masses. Mystara doesn't have mass appeal anymore.

headdesk

Right, generic renfaire fantasy doesn't have much appeal anymore, modern fantasy has moved on a bit.

It's probably generic or FR. It's not going to be set on Mystara it's probably not going to be Eberron. It won't be Darksun or Planescape.

Didn't I just say as much in the post that you just quoted?

It won't be a MtG setting. It probably won't have a Warforged protagonist or any other race that requires heavy CGI.

That's all imho if they do any of that I'll freely admit I'm wrong.

Oooookaaaaay.

 

[Don Durito]

Really the forumal for success is pretty simple.

1) Don't be naff. Fantasy on screen is often naff.
2) Don't try to hard to be cool - that way you just end up with execrable garbage like the recent Robin Hood or King Arthur movies.

You just need to land on that thin sliver of space in the middle.

 

[Azzy]

Really the forumal for success is pretty simple.

1) Don't be naff. Fantasy on screen is often naff.
2) Don't try to hard to be cool - that way you just end up with execrable garbage like the recent Robin Hood or King Arthur movies.

You just need to land on that thin sliver of space in the middle.

Here's another formula:

1) Don't try to make the movie take itself too seriously or be grimdark.
2) Don't be a comedy or go all Jar Jar Binks.

That, at least, is a wider landing strip.

 

[Wishbone]

I'm ready...

"The Lightning Rail doesn't have a smokestack you *#&$ing morons!"

Obviously the smokestack is for the oven in the kitchen car!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It will use CGIof course.

But compare with Star Wars or MCU where even the back grounds are CGI along with some character's.

That's very expensive though 200 million dollars or more plus marketing.

Actually, tech has moved on since then. If they used the virtual set technology pioneered by The Mandalorian it could be done quite economically. That would be ideal for a setting that didn't look like the Real World(TM), such as Planescape or Eberron. But if they where planning on using that they would be filming in the USA. No point transporting everything across an ocean when your set is in the computer! I could easily imagine the D&D TV series using that method though.

I'm expecting them to CGI things they have to. LotR was made on a show string budget relative to most movies now (they got a trilogy comparatively on the cheap).

One way they kept costs down was by filming everything in one country. So the New Zealand landscape is a major part of how the LotR trilogy looks. This makes it very easy to make the D&D film not look like LotR - just don't film in New Zealand!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's going to be made to appeal to the masses. Mystara doesn't have mass appeal anymore.

Mystara never had mass appeal. As a GenericFantasyland it could be used without needing an infodump just as easily as FR or Greyhawk, and it has just as much name recognition - i.e. none.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Here's another formula:

1) Don't try to make the movie take itself too seriously or be grimdark.

We already know they are aiming for GotG tone, so this aint on the cards.

2) Don't be a comedy or go all Jar Jar Binks.

This is though.

"Deekin sing the Doom Song now?"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm ready...

"The Lightning Rail doesn't have a smokestack you *#&$ing morons!"

This is actually an argument for not using any established setting. No one can complain that The Hostower of the Arcane has the wrong number of turrets if the movie uses a homebrew setting.

A small number of angry hardcore purists could do actual damage to the initial buzz for this movie (see: TLJ).

 

[Mallus]

The problem with establishing a filmic identity for D&D is that other media and games have been doing it for decades. Eberron, for example, isn't too far from Tolkien for audiences, it's too close to Final Fantasy (train + sword = FFVII). So how do you wrestle back D&D's iconography from all the work it's influenced?

Damned if I know. But it were up to me I'd go the Witcher router, avoid infodumping, and do it all through tone, action, and the charm of actors like Pine.

 

[Oofta]

The problem with establishing a filmic identity for D&D is that other media and games have been doing it for decades. Eberron, for example, isn't too far from Tolkien for audiences, it's too close to Final Fantasy (train + sword = FFVII). So how do you wrestle back D&D's iconography from all the work it's influenced?

Damned if I know. But it were up to me I'd go the Witcher router, avoid infodumping, and do it all through tone, action, and the charm of actors like Pine.

Standard fantasy using iconic spells, powers, monsters should do it. Don't shy away from having a cleric or paladin that heals, a wizard that casts fireball or even something as simple as thunderwave. Make the magic and monsters look like D&D magic and monsters which have their own spin.

For me it's less about the setting (although of course that's important too) than replicating the visuals of the actual game mechanics without getting bogged down in the details of how the mechanics work. So no "magic dust", have something other than a red dragon that breaths something other than fire, have a beholder that's actually the terrifying monster that it should be. Lots of ways to make it a D&D movie no matter what the setting is.