Ravenloft, the Movie

[MGibster]

Ravenloft thus has, imho, has negative value as an IP, rather than positive.

There were a number of bestselling Ravenloft novels in the 1990s including I, Strahd and Vampire of the Mist. I don't think the IP has negative value.

 

[MarkB]

OP asked if it'd be a good movie. Not whether it's feasible.

And how do we answer that question? Pretty much any concept can be a good movie. One of the best movies of the year is called K-Pop Demon Hunters. So sure, it could be a good movie. Or a terrible movie. Or anything in between.

 

[MGibster]

And how do we answer that question? Pretty much any concept can be a good movie. One of the best movies of the year is called K-Pop Demon Hunters. So sure, it could be a good movie. Or a terrible movie. Or anything in between.

And the sad truth is that nobody really knows what's going to be successful. You can hedge your bets, but at the end of the day even good movies sometimes fail to find an audience.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

There were a number of bestselling Ravenloft novels in the 1990s including I, Strahd and Vampire of the Mist. I don't think the IP has negative value.

That's a non-sequitur and also seems to not remember how long ago the 1990s were, nor how many bestselling novels there are every month. Bestselling is, I'm sorry, an incredibly low bar. You may think it means something, but let me assure you, it does not - and never really has (though it means even less now) - particularly not "New York Times Bestseller", which is usual meaning of the term. You really don't have to move many books.

I mean, do you think all bestselling adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, horror and crime novels from the 1990s have "positive value" as IPs when translated to movies being made in the mid-to-late 2020s, which is to say, 30+ years later? If the answer is no, what is it you think distinguishes the Ravenloft ones, specifically? If the answer is yes, could you explain why you think that? Do you think the now mostly 50-somethings and older nerds who bought those Ravenloft books in the 1990s are a key moviegoing audience who are really underserved or something?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

And the sad truth is that nobody really knows what's going to be successful. You can hedge your bets, but at the end of the day even good movies sometimes fail to find an audience.

Yeah, and you can do the opposite of hedging your bets, which is betting on something that seems very likely to fail, and fail expensively, and that's where Ravenloft sits. Sure, an amazing writer + director team + the right budget (not necessarily the most insanely huge) might somehow unlock a good movie, but odds are lower than if you just had the same writer + director team, say, write their own fantasy horror movie.

Maybe your best odds are to somehow convince Michael Bay to do it? He did an amazing job of causing truly unwatchable ultra-dire drivel, fully "sound and fury, signifying nothing", more than is normal in Hollywood, to make a lot of money, with the Transformers movies. But the thing is - that was a gigantic IP that spoke the childhoods of hundreds of millions of people - and I don't think that was a non-factor there.

 

[TiQuinn]

Ravenloft thus has, imho, has negative value as an IP, rather than positive. You could make a good movie despite it, but probably not because of it.

I think given that Curse of Strahd was one of the best selling adventures, and Strahd himself is one of the NPCs that many fans do recognize by name, it’s not negative value.

I equate it to Marvel’s Captain America or Iron Man. Captain America on film used to be a D list actor riding a motorcycle with a terrible looking costume. Iron Man would a collective “Who?” from many general moviegoers prior to Downey Jr’s portrayal. 20 years ago, these characters would have had negative value by your description.

It comes down to the right creative team coming up with a good story. IP needs to be nurtured.