D&D 5E The RPG or the Brand?

[transtemporal]

I have no shame or hesitation in stating that the first Transformers was, perhaps except for the last interminable action sequence, brilliant. Unfortunately, the sequels have gobbled up whatever good will Mr. Bay might have mustered in the process of making of it.

Absolutely. My post was more to point out that Hasbro didn't have to sell Transformers to Hollywood - they already had a entire studio dedicated to making movies from their properties. They could easily do the same for DnD if there was a sufficiently passionate champion at Hasbro and a gap in the market. The history might be tricky to overcome but LotR and GoT have also paved the way.

TBH I would be surprised if there WASN'T a treatment of Drizzt in development somewhere. Its just waiting for the stars to align.

 

[transtemporal]

Well, there is the slight problem that Hasbro actually can't make a D&D movie until the rights have been sorted out with Sweetpea Entertainment.

Who is Sweetpea entertainment?

 

[Xohar17]

Who is Sweetpea entertainment?

The company who made the D&D movies and holds the rights for making more, which was bought by warner bros.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Absolutely. My post was more to point out that Hasbro didn't have to sell Transformers to Hollywood - they already had a entire studio dedicated to making movies from their properties. They could easily do the same for DnD if there was a sufficiently passionate champion at Hasbro and a gap in the market. The history might be tricky to overcome but LotR and GoT have also paved the way.

TBH I would be surprised if there WASN'T a treatment of Drizzt in development somewhere. Its just waiting for the stars to align.

While the Drizzt novels sell well, they don't sell to the point where Drizzt is a household name.

Dungeons and Dragons has no set character that people are familiar with nor does it really have a place that people are associated with.

Most Marvel stuff is set in fictitious versions of real places, not to mention the characters have years of comic books to back them up. Harry Potter movie only came about because the books were so popular. Lord of the Rings is considered a piece of literary art that really broke the mold in terms of fantasy.

Selling D&D to overall public is an extremely difficult thing because there is nothing about the brand that has kicked off a wide spread phenomena of popularity. What would be the difference, to normal everyday people, between Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Conan, Legend of the Seeker, Dragonheart, Dragonslayer, Red Sonja, or any other fantasy movie or TV program?

 

[Gecko85]

While the Drizzt novels sell well, they don't sell to the point where Drizzt is a household name.

Dungeons and Dragons has no set character that people are familiar with nor does it really have a place that people are associated with.

Prior to the GotG movie the overwhelming majority of moviegoers had no idea who any of those characters were. My GF loved the movie, but certainly had never heard of Groot. Make a good movie with compelling characters and it certainly can be successful.

 

[transtemporal]

The company who made the D&D movies and holds the rights for making more, which was bought by warner bros.

Meh. Buy the rights back or trade horses. Its not like DnD is a super hot property.

In any case, the fact they didn't make any of those movies in a recognizable setting means Sweetpea probably don't have the rights to the specific settings, e.g. Forgotten Realms which means someone else could make a Drizzt trilogy just fine.

 

[transtemporal]

While the Drizzt novels sell well, they don't sell to the point where Drizzt is a household name.

Neither was Guardians of the Galaxy. That was obscure, even among comics fans. And look at that now...

Which absolutely proves that the property DOES NOT MATTER if you have a strong enough script, cast, director, crew to pull it off (along with backers with a lot of patience and risk-appetite).

Selling D&D to overall public is an extremely difficult thing because there is nothing about the brand that has kicked off a wide spread phenomena of popularity. What would be the difference, to normal everyday people, between Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Conan, Legend of the Seeker, Dragonheart, Dragonslayer, Red Sonja, or any other fantasy movie or TV program?

Forget the brand. Hollywood will never make another DnD-branded movie for studio release. VoD, maybe.

But they might make a high concept fantasy movie out of a well-loved series that has 12-odd bestselling books worth of material.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Forget the brand. Hollywood will never make another DnD-branded movie for studio release. VoD, maybe.

http://deadline.com/2014/09/dungeons-and-dragons-trial-ends-movie-sequels-839985/

You may be right, but Warner Brothers and Universal are spending a lot of money to be arguing about making a direct-to-video release.

 

[Hussar]

Meh. Buy the rights back or trade horses. Its not like DnD is a super hot property.

In any case, the fact they didn't make any of those movies in a recognizable setting means Sweetpea probably don't have the rights to the specific settings, e.g. Forgotten Realms which means someone else could make a Drizzt trilogy just fine.

See, I believe you would be mistaken there. The legal rangling between Hasbro and Sweatpea is being bankrolled in a large way by major studios like Warner Bros and Universal. So, it's not like D&D isn't a hot property. It very much is.

This fight has been on going for some time now and will likely result in either WB or Universal banging out a D&D movie before too long.

I mean, when they start tossing names like Russel Crowe around for acting, and WB, IIRC, dropped about 5 million on Courtney Solomon already to produce the movie, we're not talking peanunts.

 

[weldon]

$150K? I doubt they get that much.

You misread what I was saying. A rule of thumb is that any enterprise should bring in at least $150k in revenue per employee. I wasn't saying that each employee takes home $150k in salary.

For comparison, Hasbro has about $800k in revenue per employee. WotC was making about $300k per employee in 2003 when they still had Pokemon. Book publishers average about $200k. The $150k figure was only meant to set a lower bound on revenue.