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!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thinking about it ... if they're not going for an existing D&D story, I think they could do a lot worse than take the format of a heist movie. Ocean's Eleven, but in a fantasy context. You get a good opportunity for an ensemble cast, can show off some things only accomplished by magic, get a classic D&D adventuring feel, have an easy time slipping in a few action and humor pieces ...

I'm thinking to get off the ground as something repeatable, the last thing we want is something trying to be original.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Of course, another factor, specially with long-standing beloved properties like Star Wars and DC Comics, is that hardcore fans can get nitpicky and entitled, making loud, angry criticisms that leave others scratching their heads in confusion. Hardcore Star Wars fans decided to hate the prequels, but yet the kids who grew up with those movies often love them. The same is happening, although with less nerdrage, with the new Star Wars films. Young people new to the franchise don't have the same reverence for the OT, and often enjoy the newer films. I personally love the DC characters, but didn't grow up reading comics, so I take less umbrage with the new DC films than some of my pals who've been reading comics since they were in diapers.

I think the major problem with the DC movies is that they rushed them, in order to do a catch up with the Marvel movies. The movies themselves are generally quite reverent to the comics, but because the narrative is rushed it's difficult for people to follow them. Had they done an extra couple of movies for Superman and Batman in the lead-up to Batman vs Superman, they'd probably have a lot more traction in the development of the story accordingly. In the case of Suicide Squad and Justice League, both had troubled productions because the makers were trying to react to fan-identified issues of humour. Suicide Squad was apparently re-written and reshot in a matter of weeks after the trailer was released, while JLA had swapped Directors halfway through and tried to shift the movie into a more jokey affair than was originally scripted.

If you look at the whole range of the Marvel movies, by contrast, they've been established over the course of a whole decade. In fact, some movies are better than others - in fact some are pretty forgettable - but the general tone and approach to each movie is consistently the same. This is why they are basically doing better with audiences - they've established their own fans expectations for each movie, and just consistently meet those expectations.

In the case of Star Wars, I think we have witnessed more nerd rage this last week than any franchise ever needs.

 

[Mistwell]

Jeez 4 years? There's probably people here who can write a good script in 4 months. smh

You think writing the script is what takes up the entire time? LOL. What, do they do pre-production in a week, shoot it in a week, and do post production in a week in your world too? 4 years from concept to screen is not unusual.

 

[Morrus]

You think writing the script is what takes up the entire time? LOL. What, do they do pre-production in a week, shoot it in a week, and do post production in a week in your world too? 4 years from concept to screen is not unusual.

There’s a common belief that if a job doesn’t require specialist tools (like carpentry), anybody can do it. Therefore anybody can write a novel, anybody can write a a script, anybody can design an RPG, etc. That’s why those jobs are not valued.

 

[Mistwell]

There’s a common belief that if a job doesn’t require specialist tools (like carpentry), anybody can do it. Therefore anybody can write a novel, anybody can write a a script, anybody can design an RPG, etc. That’s why those jobs are not valued.

Those jobs are all hard. Unlike, say, running a message board. That's easy. Anyone can do it!

 

[Henry]

The concept of a modern person being pulled into a medieval-like fantasy world has been done several times before, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.

That reminds me, a good modern adaptation of Connecticut Yankee by Mark Twain would be phenomenal. The idea is REALLY old, as you say.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I had meant to mention that one upthread. One of the better versions of that trope, IMHO.

 

[Mirtek]

There’s a common belief that if a job doesn’t require specialist tools (like carpentry), anybody can do it. Therefore anybody can write a novel, anybody can write a a script, anybody can design an RPG, etc. That’s why those jobs are not valued.

That depends on how you define a successful result. Anybody can easily do the things you mentioned. The end product might not be very good, might be very bad actually, but at least it would be "working".

Carpentry sounds indeed more complex, as in not anybody would be able to produce a working product. It would not just be ugly or otherwise inferior, but their labor would not result in even a badly working product at all (at least for more complex products with multiple moving parts, anybody would be able to somehow fashion some short of table that is able to support itself and some a limited amount of weight).

 

[Quartz]

Never heard of them.

Stop RIGHT NOW and go rent or buy Carry On Screaming!, Carry on Up the Khyber, and Carry On Nurse.

 

[LordEntrails]

There is a bigger commercial picture than simply whether the movie makes money or not. The brand itself needs to be enhanced, and that requires a movie that the wider audience, as a collective, generally considers to be good.

Yes, thank you for agreeing with me and supporting my point. Financial success, including brand enhancement is the goal. And that critical acclaim is useless by itself, that the important objective is populous agreement that the movie is worth spending money on.

It's not an insult, it's a logical extension of what you are arguing. If the movie makers just wanted to make money, then they could just do it through making a porn movie - and ignore any aesthetic whatsoever, so long as it made money. For the sake of the brand, and most gamers aesthetic tastes however, I hope they don't do this.

And many movie makers do just make porn. So how about you support your assumption and provide some statistics on how much money portn makes versus Hollywood blockbusters?

But, Hasbro is and should be interested in the financial success of their brand, D&D. Therefore they are interested in a Hollywood blockbuster and not a porn.

Jeez 4 years? There's probably people here who can write a good script in 4 months. smh

As mentioned, it's not about writing a script. The studio can only manage so many productions at a time. They have limited resources, so the studio has to schedule out the movies over the coming years so that they can make sure they have the resources available to support production. And, since it's not the first movie in the line-up, you can see how it ranks among the other Hasbro movies.