Something I stumbled across while looking for other stuff.

[Hussar]

Wow, I so wish this had happened.

((From Here))

n 1999, the purchase of Wizards of the Coast by Hasbro, Inc. opened several smoothly paved and fruitful avenues to aid us in achieving these goals. Rather than relying solely on our own marketing, what better way to get our name "out there" than to attach our brands to Hasbro's board games, toys, and varied other merchandised and licensed products? Plus, Hasbro offers the resources and necessary contacts to help Wizards of the Coast break into television and even the big screen.

So, what's in store? First, steadfast fans (and soon-to-be steadfast fans) of Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms will be able to experience the Forgotten Realms setting in a live-action television series. This project will rock the charts! Fireworks Television (a division of CanWest Entertainment) will develop and produce the series. This is the company behind the top syndicated television shows Andromeda and Mutant X. Plus, for all you dark elf fans, Fireworks also plans to launch Dark Elf motion pictures after the premiere of the series. In other words, get the candy and popcorn ready, folks!

In addition to the Forgotten Realms series, we have many other exciting deals in the works. Fantasy is extremely hot in Hollywood right now, so our brands are in high demand! We have made a deal with an animation company to produce fully interactive movies for D&D, through which we hope to make superstars of the many heroes and monsters we all love so much. These will be essentially "pick-a-path" stories on DVD, where the viewer can make decisions for the hero using a simple remote control.

What else? Soon, Dark Sun will come back to life in a fully animated series targeted at teens and adults. Last, but not least, we have a producer developing the Spelljammer brand for TV and movies.

Heady times.

 

[pemerton]

Nice find!

There was no way all of that was going to come true - it reminds me of Stan's Soapboxes from the late 70s and early 80s in it over-the-top enthusiasm - but it's a pity that basically none of it did.

 

[Cadence]

Nice find!

There was no way all of that was going to come true - it reminds me of Stan's Soapboxes from the late 70s and early 80s in it over-the-top enthusiasm - but it's a pity that basically none of it did.

Finished reading "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" a few months ago. From a lot of the spectacularly stupid corporate things in there its amazing the company ever made it. It doesn't sound like anything WotC has had to put up is anywhere near that crazy (at least Hasbro is in vaguely the same industry).

And hey, eventually Marvel got all those great movies out

 

[DEFCON 1]

Finished reading "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" a few months ago. From a lot of the spectacularly stupid corporate things in there its amazing the company ever made it. It doesn't sound like anything WotC has had to put up is anywhere near that crazy (at least Hasbro is in vaguely the same industry).

And hey, eventually Marvel got all those great movies out

Which goes to show that so long as you bring in enough money to keep the lights on and have a niche of original product that can't be produced elsewhere... a company can just keep going and going producing stuff.

Which is why I always roll my eyes when posters here claim that D&D will be "shut down" if some upcoming edition doesn't "sell well".

 

[Dire Bare]

We have made a deal with an animation company to produce fully interactive movies for D&D, through which we hope to make superstars of the many heroes and monsters we all love so much. These will be essentially "pick-a-path" stories on DVD, where the viewer can make decisions for the hero using a simple remote control.

At least this part happened! Scourge of Worlds was fun, but I'm not surprised it was a one-hit wonder. It did get a "director's cut", however!

 

[Jester David]

Given the quality of Andromeda and Mutant X we probably dodged a bullet. And the movie they spoke of likely was the D&D movie. The resounding success of that likely doomed the other projects.

 

[pemerton]

Finished reading "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" a few months ago.

I read it about a year ago - an interesting book for old Marvel fans!

The closest I've seen to that for WotC is John Tynes's "Death to the Minotaur".

 

[Hussar]

Given the quality of Andromeda and Mutant X we probably dodged a bullet. And the movie they spoke of likely was the D&D movie. The resounding success of that likely doomed the other projects.

Hey. I liked Andromeda. It was fun. Definitely jumped the shark in later seasons but the first two were a blast.