Pitch me your ulitmate D&D movie

[rossik]

The thing is... That even if you get all the old timers and new timers... Your movie will still bomb. You have to get people in who don't play D&D if you want to make a profit.

Eberron is the setting that will appeal to the widest audience in the public at large.

why is that?

no sarcasm, i just know too litlle about eberron. just that theres some "technology" going on, like the warforged and "trains"

 

[Meloncov]

I've always thought that the story of King Kius from Eberron could make an impresively original fantasy movie.

Title: Kaius
PlotSpoilers for Eberron) [sblock]Have roughly the first third of the movie deal with his fall from grace; his role in the start of the last war, consorting with Vol to save his nation, his murder of his wife, and becoming a vampire. Through out this, keep him as sympathetic as possible; make it clear that everything he does he does solely because it is necesary to preserve his nation. Than jump forward a hundred years and chronicle his return to the throne, removal of Vol, and negotioation of the Treaty of Thronehold[/sblock]

Setting: Attempt to stear clear from as many fantasy tropes as possible; no elves or dwarves (don't write them out of the setting; just don't show them in the movie). Use the change in war tactics over time to emphasise the change in time; from LotR style armies in the begining to almost sci-fi battles with warforged, airships, and the like towards the end. Also, make a point of having everything gradually grow more and more decayed over the course of the movie.

Visual Style: Heavily filtered live action with CGI enviornments, i.e. 300. This will allow for the style to be consistent throughout the movie while retaining a fairly small budget.

Marketing: Play down the fact that it's based on Dungeons and Dragons, and focus towards a broader audience. Bring in teens with large battles and adults with the political intrigue.

Tagline: How far must a king go to save his country?

 

[Scott_Rouse]

The thing is... That even if you get all the old timers and new timers... Your movie will still bomb. You have to get people in who don't play D&D if you want to make a profit.

Eberron is the setting that will appeal to the widest audience in the public at large.

For a big movie ($80M+ production budget) studios want a "tent pole" movie that they can wrap a huge campaign around: Toy, Video Game, Publishing, Consumer Packaged Goods plus all the standard stuff like fast food etc.

They also want a "4 quadrant" movie that appeals to Young, Old, Male, Female.

 

[Jack99]

For a big movie ($80M+ production budget) studios want a "tent pole" movie that they can wrap a huge campaign around: Toy, Video Game, Publishing, Consumer Packaged Goods plus all the standard stuff like fast food etc.

They also want a "4 quadrant" movie that appeals to Young, Old, Male, Female.

Then you need FR and teh drizzit!

 

[GammaPaladin]

For a big movie ($80M+ production budget) studios want a "tent pole" movie that they can wrap a huge campaign around: Toy, Video Game, Publishing, Consumer Packaged Goods plus all the standard stuff like fast food etc.

They also want a "4 quadrant" movie that appeals to Young, Old, Male, Female.

That's actually my point... Eberron has immense potential for merchandising. With the Magitech style stuff in the setting, it gives you a chance at a bunch of special effects shots, things you can make into toys and crap later.

But, beyond that, the D&D gamer market is not huge. I mean, it's big and profitable, but not "justify a $100 million hollywood movie budget" big.

And any of the D&D settings will fragment that further (There's any number of gamers who don't like Faerun, or Eberron, or whatever).

So you have to look at the setting with the most mass appeal. The magitech style setting is incredibly popular right now (Just look at Final Fantasy), and the light anime-ish elements in Eberron that the old-timers in the gamer market cry so hard about are, again, very popular across the board in the general population.

The fact that Eberron is not tied to an SCA-geek style aesthetic gives it more mass appeal. When you're pitching a movie, this is important.

I think it would be ok to involve the Valenar, after all, they're not exactly the elves people are used to.

But also, it gets away with the more "corny" elements of the genre, such as the adventuring party who does it "for the lulz", and more towards involved political intrigue, which would make for a better movie, and keep it from appearing to be a "geek thing".

I'd say you're better off trying to emulate Sin City than something like Star Wars or Indiana Jones.

 

[MacMathan]

Pretty much take the 13th Warrior, add in a little magic, perhaps a real "fire dragon" and I would say you are good to go.

The most DnD of any movie I have seen as it includes all of the following elements:

Hero gets sent to a strange land. check

A messenger comes from a king in need of heroes. check

Heroes are selected by fate(read whoever you play with). check

NPC encounters in troubled village. check

Ambushed while sleeping. check

Seek out old crone for further info. check

Actually enter a dungeon like cave system to find one of the head baddies. check

Heroic final battle. check

Also the best example of putting skill points into a new language on film.

IMHO

 

[GammaPaladin]

Heck, I'm just going to write a pitch...

Director: Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Sin City)
Storyline: A hard nosed Inquisitive, a retired paladin, a young psychic warrior, and a sociopathic Warmage cross paths several times in Sharn over the course of a few days, as each pursues his own personal goals, eventually bringing them together for good or ill...
Writer: Frank Miller (Sin City, 300, hell... you know what he's done), Neil Gaiman (Stardust, Sandman, various comics and novels), and Keith Baker (Duh). Miller would give us the grit we need for an urban noir tale, Gaiman would inject the wonder we want for the setting, and Baker would make sure it was all true to Eberron's theme.
Cast: Honestly, I'd need to write up a full treatment to get an idea of the cast. And if I was going to do that I think I'd be PMing it to you. Of course... If you'd like me to do so...
Format: Live Action
Producer: Rodriguez, 'cause he seems to know what's cool. And we can trust him not to get in the director's way, because he's directing.
Effects house: I haven't been impressed by ILM lately, nor WETA. Both seem a bit flashy to me. I'd be more likely to go with the companies behind Sin City, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Pan's Labyrinth, etc. For the most part we want subtle, not over the top.

I don't really know enough about studios and the economics of moviemaking to really say much for the studio and budget.

 

[DM-Rocco]

there Ranger!



I disagree that the movie sucked. It was good, though certainly not great, nor even my favourite of the prequel trilogy* (let alone the original trilogy). To say it sucked is harsh bordering on fanboy vitriol. Personally I thought it was entertaining even though it failed to amaze.

*Attack of the Clones gets that honour.

Actually, I liked Revenge of the Sith. I agree with RangerWickett that the characters are really bad and I don't really care about any of them, although I started to gain sympathy for young Ben towards the end.

This movie is agood example of special effects for effects sake, which leads to rediculas things like lightsaber battles feet away from flowing lava. In reality you couldn't be within 50 feet, at the least, of open lava without bursting into flames.

That aside, I did like the final battle. That really gave me a sense of wielding a deadly light saber against another jedi. The rest of the light saber battles sucked though. Ben disarms four light sabers away from grevious, yeah, whatever. Count Duku does a flip over the rail like a young gymnatic athelte, yeah right. Dude, your old, float down in a fearsome way like darth Vader did in Empire.

A lot of the things I did like weren't even in the movie, there were in the book.

Of course, but DM-Rocco and myself were primarily discussing the pace of the movie. Not the characters. I mentioned I didn't want a Lord of the Rings pace but rather something more akin to Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.

All three have a good pace, but they all, even indy, have slow down periods for love and character growth.

Whats going to make them cool are their actions and words.

Is the only way for me to defend my synopsis to write a full script!?

Er, yes. Get busy boy

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hello DM-Rocco matey!

Actually, I liked Revenge of the Sith. I agree with RangerWickett that the characters are really bad and I don't really care about any of them, although I started to gain sympathy for young Ben towards the end.

Well the problem Revenge of the Sith had (or rather one of the problems) was that the main character was ultimately the villain and the rest of the cast seemed like a bunch of fools.

This movie is agood example of special effects for effects sake, which leads to rediculas things like lightsaber battles feet away from flowing lava. In reality you couldn't be within 50 feet, at the least, of open lava without bursting into flames.

So when Sam & Frodo didn't burst into flames (before the giant eagle picks them up) did it destroy your whole experience?

Vader actually took a blaster bolt to the hand (Empire Strikes Back) and it didn't phase him, being close to lava isn't going to unduly phase a jedi, certainly not a jedi master.

That aside, I did like the final battle. That really gave me a sense of wielding a deadly light saber against another jedi.

Certainly the end duel had the gravitas of six movies on its shoulders, and the actors put in a lot of practice so give them their dues I suppose.

The rest of the light saber battles sucked though.

I think it was a case of nothing we hadn't seen before by that stage, and a number of really bad set-ups. I think the lightsaber duels peaked with Attack of the Clones.

Ben disarms four light sabers away from grevious, yeah, whatever.

This, for me, was the most disappointing part of the movie, They have this interesting visual character in Grievous and hes made to look like a chump by Obi-Wan. Who the hell were the jedi he supposedly killed, were they restrained at the time? I would have loved to have seen Grievous actually taking on multiple Jedi.

Likewise the Palpatine vs. Jedi (inc. Windu) was pretty much pants too. Again, okay we see Palpatine dispatch three jedi chumps with ease, but again it had nothing new.

The Yoda vs. Palpatine Duel

Count Duku does a flip over the rail like a young gymnatic athelte, yeah right. Dude, your old, float down in a fearsome way like darth Vader did in Empire.

Because Stuntmen Gotta Eat!

A lot of the things I did like weren't even in the movie, there were in the book.

Haven't read the novelisation yet.

All three have a good pace, but they all, even indy, have slow down periods for love and character growth.

Of course, as would my movie.

Er, yes. Get busy boy

 

[rawgt3]

BG2 movie!!! That would be great! Its funny,romantic,serious,sad,dramatic,and everything else you could ever want from a movie!
Am I the only one that actually likes the Aerie romance?