D&D Movie/TV New D&D Movie: July 23rd 2021

It's official - the new Dungeons & Dragons movie is coming, and it's coming in four years - July 23rd, 2021, as announced by Paramount.

We already know that the movie will be produced by the Lego Movie's Roy Lee, that it will be directed by Rob Letterman (Goosebumps, Monsters vs. Aliens, Shark Tale). Originally scripted by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans), it's now being written by Joe Manganelio, might be Dragonlance and then again might feature the Yawning Portal, and will adopt a Guardians of the Galaxy tone. Oh, and that we should take everything I just said with a pinch of salt as the movie appears have jumped from WB to Paramount at some point in the process!

 

[Kaodi]

Just had a brainwave... (if you're listening Hasbro?! )!

If they're looking for a way to give off a D&D feel to a series of movies then I think an excellent way to do that would be to enlist a core group of actors and have them recurrently star in the films. So far so normal... Here's the fun part: dramatically change the theme of each new movie and have the actors play different roles in each one.

So Movie #1: Forgotten Realms based (d'uh)
Movie #2: Ravenloft based (and have one of the heroes in the FR movie play a villain in this one?)
Movie #3: Eberron based (and switch up the roles again)

IMHO it would really reinforce the "you get to play lots of different roles in the worlds of D&D" vibe that I think is important.

And it's super fun to see actors doing new things - it would keep the franchise fresh and yet familiar (and quite distinct from the other ongoing epic series) - and also be a great way to put in witty references to the prior movies.

I kind of like this, actually. Makes the actors and writers have to really work for it because their character being popular does not mean they just get to do more of the same for the next film they are contracted for.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Nice exaggeration.

Directly following on from your own words of exaggeration.

This will be my last attempt to add reason to your emotional rants.

Good. Stop now, because you're merely demonstrating a lack of taste and some foolish attempts at patronising people here on this thread.

You "one-upping" me by going to millions/billions is absurd.

It's directly your own words.

And rather than supporting your point, supports that you are spewing emotional responses that you haven't even thought through. Or do you really want us to expect that 1 in 7 people in the WORLD think MB is the worst moviemaker? If so, please provide some fact based support.

Patronising others is not making a valid argument. There is evidence above of the general feelings of a very prominent movie critic in the video above. It's not an unusual viewpoint.

[MENTION=6563]Azzy[/MENTION] & [MENTION=27252]TrippyHippy[/MENTION], If you want a movie that conforms to your tastes, then go invest your own time in money in such. If you are right, then the critics will love it and you might even turn a profit.

Or you could accept that what you want is of little important to Hasbro and your continued voicing of it and how bad MB is will have no real impact on the world.

Bottom line is this - Michael Bay isn't making the D&D movie. You are arguing a hypothetical that won't happen in any case. You don't have any influence on who is making this movie, and thank goodness because you absolutely no awareness of what it would take to make a good one. I'm not going to take lectures about taste from somebody who doesn't have any.

I'm done.

How I wish that were the case....

 

[Azzy]

Which is close to my point. You want (reasonably so) a D&D movie that fits your tastes. Tastes that you pretty much insist are in a very small minority. A minority that you should not expect Hasbro to care about in the least. This is a commercial money making venture for them, they should and will follow a formulaic approach to the movie that they hope will yield the most profit for the D&D brand. For them to do anything less would be negligent to their shareholders.

Oh, the Most Holy Shareholders and Our Corporate Overlords must be appeased! If only there were tons of art that wasn't made to appease the Most Holy Shareholders, that then went on to to do amazingly well, and then help shape their fields. Of well, forget them.

Or you could accept that what you want is of little important to Hasbro and your continued voicing of it and how bad MB is will have no real impact on the world.

Or you could accept that when people lambaste Michael Bay and his ilk on a thread like this, we're not actually trying to influence Hasbro (or whomever else), and we're addressing our own tastes. We don't care about the Our Corporate Overlords and the Most Holy Shareholders, we want a film that we can enjoy. If you want trite, overproduced crap that caters to the lowest common denominator, that's cool—but stop insisting that, just because something makes bank or is popular with a bunch of people, that we should shut up and accept it. Screw that.

 

[marklopiccola]

I am REALLY hoping the folks involved with this project actually played the F'ing game... once in their lives! The last attempts were lackluster to be kind.

I will be there when (and if) it ships.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Wow. The last thing I want is "person from the real world transported to Forgotten Realms (or wherever)" for my D&D movie. That might actually keep me from watching it.

 

[LordEntrails]

Then you can go listen to Miley Cyrus (or whatever the newest manufactured pop sensation is), and I can continue listening to better things.

You cannot account for the tastes of audiences that watch them, however - and you cannot account for the millions/billions ? of people who openly think he is the worst moviemaker in the world today.

His name is actually a by-word for crass, artless, noisy and commercialised direction. The D&D brand would be damaged in the association of a movie-maker that carries such animus, and unlike the Transformers brand (which merely needs to make big screen toy adverts), they have actually got to get the general public onside for any future D&D film because of the baggage and negative associations it already has. The D&D brand has to convince the wider market that it's actually a creative, narrative pastime for all ages and genders, and not just something that would appeal to 14 year old boys.

No, you can listen to different things. There is no meassure by which they are better except personal taste. It's not like two engines where you can objectively compare certain attributes.

Directly following on from your own words of exaggeration.

Good. Stop now, because you're merely demonstrating a lack of taste and some foolish attempts at patronising people here on this thread.

It's directly your own words.

Patronising others is not making a valid argument. There is evidence above of the general feelings of a very prominent movie critic in the video above. It's not an unusual viewpoint.

Bottom line is this - Michael Bay isn't making the D&D movie. You are arguing a hypothetical that won't happen in any case. You don't have any influence on who is making this movie, and thank goodness because you absolutely no awareness of what it would take to make a good one. I'm not going to take lectures about taste from somebody who doesn't have any.

How I wish that were the case....

Oh, the Most Holy Shareholders and Our Corporate Overlords must be appeased! If only there were tons of art that wasn't made to appease the Most Holy Shareholders, that then went on to to do amazingly well, and then help shape their fields. Of well, forget them.



Or you could accept that when people lambaste Michael Bay and his ilk on a thread like this, we're not actually trying to influence Hasbro (or whomever else), and we're addressing our own tastes. We don't care about the Our Corporate Overlords and the Most Holy Shareholders, we want a film that we can enjoy. If you want trite, overproduced crap that caters to the lowest common denominator, that's cool—but stop insisting that, just because something makes bank or is popular with a bunch of people, that we should shut up and accept it. Screw that.

I was going to be done, but you two are so easy to rile up. Now it's kinda getting to be fun how upset you are getting. Of course almost everything you attribute to me is wrong, and simple based upon your ignorance, but that's ok, it's ENWorld after all, intelligence not required.

 

[gyor]

Ah, argumentum ad populum... Millions of people do cocaine, too. Doesn't make any less stupid.

Did you serious compare Michael Bay Movies to cocaine?

I still find the Michael Bay hate silly, he makes fun movies, they aren't brilliant movies, but fun and that is enough.

 

[Henry]

All this may be true, but Michael Bay movies still suck however, which is not something I'd want for any potential future D&D movie....

Dragonlance, Yawning Portal and GotG can't be in the same sentence except if you want made a flop D&D movie (again).

That doesn't make him/his movies suck any less.

Just thinking about this project and I do think that it would benefit from a narrator, acting as the voice of the DM, but also letting the audience know that this is a fable, introducing the characters in a manner that humanizes them and situates the viewer in the story so far...

All the varied responses leads me to ask: would people rather have a D&D movie that is true to the subject matter and representative of the fun we know it is, or would they rather have a successful movie that turns off its fan base? Which would be better for expanding the brand in the long run? Because we might be forced to choose. I’d like to think that we’re not, because all these things we’re saying now about how difficult it is to make a good D&D or fantasy movie, is the EXACT kind of thing that people used to say 30 and 40 years ago about superhero movies. we had that schlocky crap like the spider-man TV movies, the Captain America movies where Steve Rogers was a surfer dude who rode around on a motor cycle, and the brightest hope was Lou Ferrigno as the Incredible Hulk (with Thor as a guest one-shot in a feeble attempt at a back-door pilot.

Now we have unbelievable epic tales like the first avengers movie, the captain America trilogy, and a Thor: Ragnarok that was just a hell of a lot of fun to watch. All this 10 year old me would have found impossible to believe. It can be done - but it has to be done by someone with passion for it, the talent for a good screenplay, and just enough talent to make the budget cover it. None of these were available with the first D&D movie. The passion, maybe, but the support and the writing chops, no.

 

[LordEntrails]

All the varied responses leads me to ask: would people rather have a D&D movie that is true to the subject matter and representative of the fun we know it is, or would they rather have a successful movie that turns off its fan base?

It's not one or the other.

I think the first priority is financial success. For the reasons I stated earlier.

Second, their are going to be people in the fan base who do not like it (whatever it might be). I think their are enough opinions up thread that are mutually contradictory. Besides, D&D fans are exceptionally diverse. So, some fans, regardless of the financial success or "theatrical quality" will be put off. A few of them will be so outraged that it will actually impact their enjoyment of the D&D RPG. Realistically, only those few will care about how wronged they have been, but I'm sure they will be quiet vocal about their indignation.

Since some of the fan base will be "turned off", that is a separate measure than the movie's success. So, two measures that are probably only weakly related.

Which would be better for expanding the brand in the long run?

Financial success. As stated earlier because it will result in growth of the product and market.

Because we might be forced to choose. ...

"We" will never get a choice in the matter. Hasbro and WotC will get to make choices, "we" never will.

But I agree with the thought that it does not have to be one or another. It can be a financial success and true to D&D. Of course, that depends upon one's opinion on what being true is and what D&D is to them. Many people on this forum think they know what D&D is, most of them only know what it is to them.

Heck, I don't know what D&D is except to me.

 

[Kaodi]

Wow. The last thing I want is "person from the real world transported to Forgotten Realms (or wherever)" for my D&D movie. That might actually keep me from watching it.

Oh my God, it's Mouseferatu, ! ...Oh my God, Mouseferatu was not impressed with my idea, D: .