D&D 5E The RPG or the Brand?

[Parmandur]

I think it is a safe bet that the major movie studios spending millions of dollars for movie rights are interested in making movies. Considering that WB has had three years straight of Billion dollar movies that are D&D/Warhammer style offerings, the prospect of such a franchise without a cap (6 movies for Tolkien), Marvel-style, is appealing.

 

[Halivar]

Considering that WB has had three years straight of Billion dollar movies that are D&D/Warhammer style offerings, the prospect of such a franchise without a cap (6 movies for Tolkien), Marvel-style, is appealing.

Just wait. How many 3-hour epics do you think we can get out of a padded Silmarillion? 30? 40?

 

[Sailor Moon]

I disagree in that Harry Potter as a brand was absolutely grown through marketing. All the movies, toys, lego, etc. is marketing, not luck.

I think where luck might play a part is in determining which of the many good ideas get a chance. Why did Christopher Little pick up Harry Potter from his slush pile? I'll give that to luck. Everything after that is about the product quality, timing, market fit, promotion, etc.

D&D is past the luck stage. I think it needs good marketing to build the characters for a big brand. Then it needs mass market media (TV, Movies, etc.) with great original storylines that borrow from the D&D canon.

They didn't have to market Harry Potter. The success came from the craze over the books. Naturally they went on to make movies, games, and toys.

 

[Halivar]

There are a great deal of us who did not read the Harry Potter books until the movies popularized them outside their core audience: literate kids and YA fiction fans. And I am confident in the opinion that the movies boosted the books more than the books boosted the movies.

EDIT: Which, if I'm correct, can apply just as well to D&D if done right.

 

[Parmandur]

Just wait. How many 3-hour epics do you think we can get out of a padded Silmarillion? 30? 40?

LOL, point taken; however, they have no rights to the Silmarillion, and the Tolkien estate ain't selling. If they want ab epic fantasy franchise, they need a new one, and D&D is an endless well of Tolienesque pulp, unrivalled by anything else. Most book series end, but D&D is by nature open and endless, even having a multiverse.

 

[Sailor Moon]

There are a great deal of us who did not read the Harry Potter books until the movies popularized them outside their core audience: literate kids and YA fiction fans. And I am confident in the opinion that the movies boosted the books more than the books boosted the movies.

EDIT: Which, if I'm correct, can apply just as well to D&D if done right.

Incorrect.

I worked in a bookstore when Harry Potter was released and it was an absolute madhouse. It was like a feeding frenzy. The book were already well established and flying off the shelves before the first movie came out.

 

[Parmandur]

There are a great deal of us who did not read the Harry Potter books until the movies popularized them outside their core audience: literate kids and YA fiction fans. And I am confident in the opinion that the movies boosted the books more than the books boosted the movies.

EDIT: Which, if I'm correct, can apply just as well to D&D if done right.

Went both ways, really; perfect storm. But again, those books have an ending. D&D offers a studio a James Bond level of repeatability for movies.

 

[weldon]

They didn't have to market Harry Potter. The success came from the craze over the books. Naturally they went on to make movies, games, and toys.

They didn't have to market Harry Potter?

How do you define marketing then?

 

[Parmandur]

Incorrect.



I worked in a bookstore when Harry Potter was released and it was an absolute madhouse. It was like a feeding frenzy. The book were already well established and flying off the shelves before the first movie came out.

Yeaaaaah, they kinda marketed the book. I remember it being in 60 Minutes, of all things.

 

[Halivar]

Incorrect.

I worked in a bookstore when Harry Potter was released and it was an absolute madhouse. It was like a feeding frenzy. The book were already well established and flying off the shelves before the first movie came out.

When it was released? The Philosopher Stone's initial print run was 500 books, 300 of which went to Libraries. Are you sure you aren't thinking of the later US reprint under Sorcerer's Stone? It was already well established by that point with two UK printings. The US Scholastice edition sold about 11 million in 4 years (an impressive feat for YA fiction). Meanwhile, The Order of the Phoenix, the first book released after the first two movies, sold 5 million on its first day. Also not that around the 3rd or 4th movies, more people had purchased the later books than the earlier ones (cumulative, not year-by-year). Today, Sorceror's Stone ranks in the top ten books sold of all time, but the next HP book listed is The Half-Blood Prince, an indication that not as many people are reading the books in the middle.

All of this is to say: people watched the movies, got interested, read the first book, then jumped to the book after the latest released movie.