New D&D Movie To Go Ahead - Produced By Lego Movie's Roy Lee

The long dispute between Hasbro and Sweetpea Entertainment has come to and end, opening the door for a brand new Dungeons & Dragons movie! The deal between Warner Bros, Hasbro, and Sweetpea, will see a movie set in the Forgotten Realms, written by Wrath of the Titans' David Leslie Johnson, and produced by The Lego Movie's Roy Lee.

The long dispute between Hasbro and Sweetpea Entertainment has come to and end, opening the door for a brand new Dungeons & Dragons movie! The deal between Warner Bros, Hasbro, and Sweetpea, will see a movie set in the Forgotten Realms, written by Wrath of the Titans' David Leslie Johnson, and produced by The Lego Movie's Roy Lee.

Lee, who also produced How To Train Your Dragon, will be producing the film which has been written by Wrath of the Titans' David Leslie Johnson. It'll be set in the Forgotten Realms (of course). At Hasbro's end, there is involvement from Brian Goldner (Hasbro's chief executive) and Stephen Davis (chief content officer). Warner Bros' Greg Silverman said that "[D&D] is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings."

More details on the lawsuit and its resolution can be found here. Full press release:

Warner Bros. Pictures, Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures and Sweetpea Entertainment are moving forward on a feature film franchise based on Dungeons & Dragons, the world’s most popular role playing game. Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis, Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman of Sweetpea Entertainment, and Roy Lee (“The LEGO Movie,” “How to Train Your Dragon”) are attached as producers.

Highlighting the priority being given to the project, Warner Bros. Pictures already has a script, written by David Leslie Johnson (“The Conjuring 2,” “Wrath of the Titans”).

“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,” said Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, Warner Bros. Pictures. “This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property.”

“This is such an enormous opportunity to bring the rich fantasy setting of the Forgotten Realms to life and, together with the creative powerhouse of Warner Bros., use movies to tell the stories that have enchanted passionate D&D fans for decades,” said Stephen Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer of Hasbro, Inc. “D&D is the role-playing game that started it all and now we have the opportunity to ignite a franchise for its legions of avid fans in a way never done before.”

Dungeons & Dragons first became popular in 1974, and since then has amassed millions of players and fans worldwide. The hugely popular property has also influenced numerous writers, directors, game designers, and other creative professionals throughout its four decades.

“We are thrilled that this beloved property can finally make its way to the big screen after 20 years, and that it can be realized by Warner Bros., which has been responsible for the biggest fantasy franchises over the past two decades,” said Courtney Solomon of Sweetpea Entertainment.

Today’s announcement reflects the resolution of Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast LLC’s complaint against Sweetpea Entertainment, Inc. and Sweetpea BVI, Ltd. and the counterclaims filed by Sweetpea against Hasbro in May 2013 related to the Dungeons & Dragon brand. Solomon and Zeman will be attached to produce all Warner Bros.-produced Dungeons & Dragons film and television productions. All rights for future Dungeons & Dragons productions have been unified and returned to Wizards of the Coast, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hasbro.
 

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Kramodlog

Naked and living in a barrel
Let's hope. The most iconic locations are there. ;)

Setting a FR movie elsewhere would be like making a Lord of the Rings movie set wherever the guys on the giant elephants showed up from. Being JRRT, I'm sure the elephant guys have a massive tome of lore about them. But it doesn't make them the obvious choice for the first movie to get made.

It will be there with the current "synergy between products" business model. The video game is set there, thus the APs are set there, thus the source book is about that region, etc.

Instead of doing a Nentir Vale style thing, going micro and maybe later macro, they went with a world first and then chose to have things happen in a specific region.
 





I don't know much about this script they have, but the writer doesn't leave me feeling hopeful. The major problem of bringing D&D to the screen that the 2000 movie didn't get is that a D&D party is team of equals. For some reason the fantasy genre of movies cannot get the staple of a lone hero & some hangers on trope out of their system. That crapfest 15 years ago was all about Ridley going on Ridleyquest to save the world. There were some mostly comic relief companions but it was his show. Very generic fantasy and very NOT D&D.

The script needs to be written with the aid of a consultant who knows the game and how it works, plain and simple. Without that input the movie has a much higher than average chance to be a generic fantasy film with the D&D brand slapped on it. The basic concept CAN work. The Avengers, & Guardians of the Galaxy both featured a team cast, and they were successful.
 


the_redbeard

Explorer
For me, the movies that have had the most "D&D" feel have not been fantasy movies.

The Man Who Would Be King - total player character scheme for gold and glory
The Treasure of Sierra Madre - yeah, mining and not a dungeon, but the characters are like so many I've seen at the table
Guardians of the Galaxy, ok this is more fantasy than sci-fi (not a lot of science in its fiction) but that's a Dnd campaign, complete with bar scene

I would have included the Hobbit on this list, but Jackson really, really needs an editor.
 

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