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!

 

[schnee]

I think the perfect D&D movie was already made in the 80's.

It was Time Bandits.

No, wait, hear me out:
- Gods and extra-dimensional travel
- Minotaurs and Fighters
- Rogues
- Giants
- Spaceships! (S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks anyone?)
...and a group of adventurers using their abilities to steal everything they possibly could

And, the best of all: Evil was an AD&D 20th level Magic User.
- He had Fireball and Power Word Kill
- He had Polymorph Other
- He was stupidly overpowered
- He won by inflating like a balloon, shooting all the arrows back at archers, and (when grappled by a bunch of chains) spinning like a merry-go-round. That is the sort of weird fun an AD&D mage would pull off with spells like Duo Dimension.

I think that's the type of movie that would pay to see. Some bland generic Faerun thing leaves me cold.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Time Bandits was a terrific movie in the same model as The Princess Bride and Stardust. It's more a comedy/family fantasy movie (with a definite Monty Python flavour) though. It's a fun fairy tale, basically.

For D&D I'd hope for humour, but for it to be an action/adventure movie first and foremost. Like Lord of the Rings, but with less canonical baggage and a bit more of a picaresque style of plotting, to be able to build up a franchise series. Firefly/Serenity would also be a good model - albeit for fantasy not sci-fi.

Also, if I ever end up reacting to the D&D movie in the manner that some Star Wars fans have reacted to The Last Jedi, regardless of how good/bad it is, y'all have permission to shoot me. No movie is worth whining about like some of the comments I have read over this last week.

 

[Oofta]

Also, if I ever end up reacting to the D&D movie in the manner that some Star Wars fans have reacted to The Last Jedi, regardless of how good/bad it is, y'all have permission to shoot me. No movie is worth whining about like some of the comments I have read over this last week.

Can we get that in writing? And we need more information. Nerf guns? Dual-wielded hand crossbows? Ballistae?

Although actually I agree. I'm sure no matter how good (or bad) the movie is there will be whining because the movie wasn't done exactly according to people's vision of what it should have been. I personally enjoyed The Hobbit movies even if they did differ from the book because it was a high quality fantasy movie (although I think Jackson probably could have done a better job if he had been attached from the very beginning). I liked TLJ because I didn't get all hurt because _____ or when _____ didn't go as I thought it should have because it wasn't my story to tell.

For example if they do a DragonLance movie and cut the whole Goldmoon/Riverwind romance because it's not necessary to the story some people would scream bloody murder about how their story was ruined. So we can speculate all we want about what the movie will be like, but it's not our movie. When it opens up, I'll watch it as someone else's story and vision and judge it on it's merits at that point.

 

[Kaodi]

I had an idea for an elf supporting character yesterday that I now realize in many ways is like Thranduil from The Hobbit but with more emphasis on the personal aspects because he is not a 'somebody' in elf society. A character that decides to help because he has spent an elven lifetime looking out for himself, always putting himself first, and is just so very weary of it all. With a line somewhere like, "I have outlived so many of my mistakes. Long life does not come with perfect recall, and by time I have been unburdened of so much disappointment, so much guilt. It all fades into darkness. But the darkness has taken on a life of its own, and while I cannot always see what lurks there, I can feel it calling me for a reckoning at last."

 

[werecorpse]

Also, if I ever end up reacting to the D&D movie in the manner that some Star Wars fans have reacted to The Last Jedi, regardless of how good/bad it is, y'all have permission to shoot me. No movie is worth whining about like some of the comments I have read over this last week.

Quite right, one must only react positively to a movie. Even if it's garbage one can only either praise it or keep quiet. We already have three Dungeons and Dragons movies, maybe just a rehash of those maybe with less depth and worse humour should be fine.

 

[Kaodi]

I mean, in a stereotypical D&D game glory and fortune for their own sake are the motivation of the heroes. That is one thing that has to go out the door to make a D&D movie work I think. They certainly are not the motivation for most of the characters in MCU, though Thor likes a certain amount of glory, Rocket likes a lot of fortune, and Star-Lord will take both.

Anyway, this is tangential, but I was thinking of one way to sum up GotG:
Star-Lord - I am looking for my father.
Gamora - My father is a dick.
Drax - I was a father.
Rocket - I have no father.
Groot - I am Groot.

 

[Parmandur]

Gygax made a cartoon about kids from our world being sucked into D&D World, and had a script made for a movie along similar lines. We know nothing about what direction All-Spark will go with the movie post-WB, but a real world people sucked into the game is immenantly possible, and would play in Peoria.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[LordEntrails]

... we need a good movie first and foremost.

Wrong.

Because their will never be a universal definition of a "good movie". You have presented you have a strong opinion of what would and would not make a "good movie", and that you will only be happy if your definition of "good movie" is what results. I think that you may agree that others might will certainly have contrary definitions. Therefore such an objective is at least insufficiently formulated.

Having a movie that any one person, regardless of how big a fan they are, thinks is a "good movie" but that is a financial failure would result in at least;
- reduction in resources and support for WotC's future D&D RPG products
- reduction or slowing in the larger social acceptance of D&D

Since;
- their is no universally objective "good movie"
- critics are showing themselves to be less and less representative of society at large
- financial failure would be detrimental to the D&D hobby,
therefore, financial success is the most important criteria or objective.

.... I'm sure no matter how good (or bad) the movie is there will be whining because the movie wasn't done exactly according to people's vision of what it should have been. I personally enjoyed The Hobbit movies even if they did differ from the book because it was a high quality fantasy movie (although I think Jackson probably could have done a better job if he had been attached from the very beginning). I liked TLJ because I didn't get all hurt because _____ or when _____ didn't go as I thought it should have because it wasn't my story to tell.

For example if they do a DragonLance movie and cut the whole Goldmoon/Riverwind romance because it's not necessary to the story some people would scream bloody murder about how their story was ruined. So we can speculate all we want about what the movie will be like, but it's not our movie. When it opens up, I'll watch it as someone else's story and vision and judge it on it's merits at that point.

Agreed. This simply supports the above statement that "their is no universally objective "good movie"".

 

[Gadget]

I personally enjoyed The Hobbit movies even if they did differ from the book because it was a high quality fantasy movie (although I think Jackson probably could have done a better job if he had been attached from the very beginning).

I was with you until this, then I...forgive me, but most of the criticism I've heard about the Hobbit movies was not necessarily from hard core fans (unlike tLotR movies, where a lot of the criticisms where from hard core 'but they changed the book' type fans). I think the point is that many people did not think it was 'a high quality fantasy movie', though of course tastes vary. Can you imagine if this had been the modern movie audience's introduction to Tolkien? I'm not sure tLotR movies would ever have been made in that case.

That said, I agree with you, it is just movie. No need to get all bent out of shape over it.

 

[Kaodi]

The Hobbit movies perhaps could have been better but the whole scene of "...will you follow me one last time?" scene never fails to give me chills. Maybe that is just me.