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The new Dungeons & Dragons movie


Werthead

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As someone who is hugely into Dungeons and Dragons (playing, listening to podcasts and watching on Twitch) I am interested.  I wish they would adapt some of the characters from some of the books (I think the time is ripe for a live action Dragonlance series) and not just use the setting, but I am interested.

It will all come down to the writing and acting.  They could really fuck it up like they did the first Dungeons and Dragons movie, or make a classic like LOTR.  I'm just hoping for something that is good.

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10 hours ago, Fiddler said:

As someone who is hugely into Dungeons and Dragons (playing, listening to podcasts and watching on Twitch) I am interested.  I wish they would adapt some of the characters from some of the books (I think the time is ripe for a live action Dragonlance series) and not just use the setting, but I am interested.

It will all come down to the writing and acting.  They could really fuck it up like they did the first Dungeons and Dragons movie, or make a classic like LOTR.  I'm just hoping for something that is good.

I agree. There is no reason why this shouldn't be amazing. 

Of course, given the hit rate on films based on existing franchises, it will probably end up being terrible. 

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3 minutes ago, Relic said:

Waterdeep and Undermountain....NOT were i would set a Forgotten Realms movie, honestly. Wouldn't Drizz't be the way to go? 

That was my thought.  Why not start with Drizz't and Bruenor and them.  Get a good writer and director to tell the story.  Then it's actually a Dungeons and Dragons movie, not just a fantasy movie calling itself Dungeons and Dragons.

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6 minutes ago, Fiddler said:

That was my thought.  Why not start with Drizz't and Bruenor and them.  Get a good writer and director to tell the story.  Then it's actually a Dungeons and Dragons movie, not just a fantasy movie calling itself Dungeons and Dragons.

Salvatore is probably wanting a chest filled with gold and magical items for the rights to the characters, i guess. Otherwise I have no idea why this isn't already in the works. Drizz't has potential to be huge. 

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2 hours ago, Relic said:

Salvatore is probably wanting a chest filled with gold and magical items for the rights to the characters, i guess. Otherwise I have no idea why this isn't already in the works. Drizz't has potential to be huge. 

Salvatore doesnt own any character rights to those characters

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5 hours ago, Relic said:

Waterdeep and Undermountain....NOT were i would set a Forgotten Realms movie, honestly. Wouldn't Drizz't be the way to go? 

Starting with The Crystal Shard does seem like it would be the obvious choice, with the option of later doing the Dark Elf trilogy as prequels.

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1 hour ago, Astromech said:

I would love to eventually get  a glimpse at a live-action in Menzoberranzan or really anywhere in the Underdark.

I think that would be fucking fantastic.  

The popularity of Dungeons and Dragons is at an all time high.  It would be difficult to try and replicate the home game on the big screen (unless they reboot the old cartoon, which Netflix needs to get on), but they have a huge backlog of settings and characters they could choose from instead of going generic.  

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4 minutes ago, williamjm said:

Starting with The Crystal Shard does seem like it would be the obvious choice, with the option of later doing the Dark Elf trilogy as prequels.

Thats how I would start.  The crystal shard could be a pretty solid, trilogy that could bring in the fans.

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It's cross-market synergy (pauses to vomit). They want to portray the "current" Forgotten Realms/D&D universe on-screen (which is rather different since they blew up the entire continent between 3rd and 4th editions), not that of 30 years ago, so they can sell a lot of other stuffy based on the setting.

Personally I think that's bollocks and they should just adapt The Crystal Shard. It'd make a fine action movie. It's got dungeons (well, caves), it's got a dragon (for five minutes), it's got lots of fight scenes, some comedy beats. It's not very well-written but as a straightforward bit of pulp fun, it's perfectly decent.

Quote

 

The popularity of Dungeons and Dragons is at an all time high

 

It's not doing too bad at the moment, but it is absolutely nothing like it was in the late 1980s/early 1990s, when it was selling millions upon millions of books every year.

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47 minutes ago, Werthead said:

 

It's not doing too bad at the moment, but it is absolutely nothing like it was in the late 1980s/early 1990s, when it was selling millions upon millions of books every year.

It is selling like that.  Not to mention you add in the streaming aspect and it is getting out to more people then it ever did in the early days.  I mean, there are billboards up in LA for a twitch livestream of people playing Dungeons and Dragons.  I am not sure about numbers wise, but for overall people interested, I think it is much larger then it was.

It is an interesting point about them wanting their new version of the Forgotten Realms showcased.  Things did change quite a bit so I could see them wanting their newest version on screen.  For me, though, I've never been a "settings" guy.  I always use my own homebrewed world, so I would be more likely to connect to characters, rather than setting.  Unless of course they bring Ravenoft to the big screen, then I my excitement could be piqued a little more.

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Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman MovieNightwingis being tapped to direct the D&D movie, so it seems that Rob Letterman is out.

1 hour ago, Fiddler said:

It is selling like that.  Not to mention you add in the streaming aspect and it is getting out to more people then it ever did in the early days.  I mean, there are billboards up in LA for a twitch livestream of people playing Dungeons and Dragons.  I am not sure about numbers wise, but for overall people interested, I think it is much larger then it was.

It is an interesting point about them wanting their new version of the Forgotten Realms showcased.  Things did change quite a bit so I could see them wanting their newest version on screen.  For me, though, I've never been a "settings" guy.  I always use my own homebrewed world, so I would be more likely to connect to characters, rather than setting.  Unless of course they bring Ravenoft to the big screen, then I my excitement could be piqued a little more.

Oh, D&D is doing very well in terms of RPG numbers, better than it has done since the 1980s (at least). The twitches and streams are helping out enormously, and shows like HarmonQuest and Wil Wheaton's stuff and Twenty-Sided. It's burying Pathfinder in 2nd place and Pathfinder isn't exactly hurting.

But it's still only a juggernaut in RPG sales and the pen-and-paper RPG space is niche. Between 1988 and 1995, every single D&D-branded novel sold a minimum of 350,000 copies in its first run printing and many of them sold several times that. Bob Salvatore's books ended up selling about 1.5 million copies each, for a total well north of 50 million copies in total. That's twice the combined lifetime sales of all D&D RPG materials published from 1974 to 2017, including 5th Edition. Combined lifetime sales of all D&D-branded novels (Forgotten RealmsDragonlanceEberronDark SunRavenloft, etc) are somewhere in the ballpark of 200 million. That was also the time period when the D&D-branded video games sold enormously (culminating in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II, which sold about 10 million copies between them). Of course, TSR's accountants being dumber than a box of frogs, most of that money went to the licence-holders rather than themselves, which is why they somehow tanked whilst Salvatore and Greenwood became millionaires.

What Hasbro/WotC want is that kind of ubiquity back again, which is why they're relaunching the books (albeit with Drizzt again, which is probably a mistake), looking at doing more video games and most importantly why they're doing the movie. The RPG is an important part of the puzzle and Hasbro seem surprised and pleased with how well 5th Edition has done (after 4th relatively bombed), but it's still only a small piece.

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Well, I personally wouldn't mind the adaptation of some of the pre-made D&D adventures.

I just got done playing Storm King's Thunder and that has some great NPCs. It has giants and dragons, so it fits with the dragons aspect of D&D.

I've just started playing Out of the Abyss and have just encountered (and escaped from, because we're only lvl 2) the Demogorgon. The  Demogorgon was in Stranger Things season 1, so there's name recognition there for the boss fight.

Cheesey choices for characters to make up the main cast of the movie:

A sexy seductress Elf sorceress

An hot-looking half-Orc ranger (male or female), basically a human with green skin and protruding (but in a cute way) bottom canines - looking at you Warcraft movie).

A Halfling rogue who is expert at knife throwing

A Dwarf with a great axe.

A noble Human paladin to lead them

An arse-kicking half-Elf two-weapon fighter.

 

The sequel will bring us a monk for the Kung-fu element - race TBC.

 

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3 hours ago, Werthead said:

Personally I think that's bollocks and they should just adapt The Crystal Shard. It'd make a fine action movie. It's got dungeons (well, caves), it's got a dragon (for five minutes), it's got lots of fight scenes, some comedy beats. It's not very well-written but as a straightforward bit of pulp fun, it's perfectly decent.

I think it would work well as a movie, but it might also have potential as a TV series. It could potentially be combined with the Dark Elf trilogy, so we get flashbacks to Drizzt growing up in Menzoberranzan along the lines of how a show like Arrow dealt with the island backstory. That would be too much material for a film, but as a show it could work.

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2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman MovieNightwingis being tapped to direct the D&D movie, so it seems that Rob Letterman is out.

Oh, D&D is doing very well in terms of RPG numbers, better than it has done since the 1980s (at least). The twitches and streams are helping out enormously, and shows like HarmonQuest and Wil Wheaton's stuff and Twenty-Sided. It's burying Pathfinder in 2nd place and Pathfinder isn't exactly hurting.

But it's still only a juggernaut in RPG sales and the pen-and-paper RPG space is niche. Between 1988 and 1995, every single D&D-branded novel sold a minimum of 350,000 copies in its first run printing and many of them sold several times that. Bob Salvatore's books ended up selling about 1.5 million copies each, for a total well north of 50 million copies in total. That's twice the combined lifetime sales of all D&D RPG materials published from 1974 to 2017, including 5th Edition. Combined lifetime sales of all D&D-branded novels (Forgotten RealmsDragonlanceEberronDark SunRavenloft, etc) are somewhere in the ballpark of 200 million. That was also the time period when the D&D-branded video games sold enormously (culminating in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II, which sold about 10 million copies between them). Of course, TSR's accountants being dumber than a box of frogs, most of that money went to the licence-holders rather than themselves, which is why they somehow tanked whilst Salvatore and Greenwood became millionaires.

What Hasbro/WotC want is that kind of ubiquity back again, which is why they're relaunching the books (albeit with Drizzt again, which is probably a mistake), looking at doing more video games and most importantly why they're doing the movie. The RPG is an important part of the puzzle and Hasbro seem surprised and pleased with how well 5th Edition has done (after 4th relatively bombed), but it's still only a small piece.

I see what you are saying.  

I for one am loving the D&D stuff that is out there and I hope the movie is done well.  I liked Lego Batman, so hopefully he does it well.

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