It's been in the works for awhile. Pretty hush hush. Then I learned recently from two sources that it's going to be Dragonlance... Really?

Quote from: Robyo;1006121It's been in the works for awhile. Pretty hush hush. Then I learned recently from two sources that it's going to be Dragonlance... Really?

What were the two sources, and how reliable are they?

And if it is true, that makes sense. Regardless of any residual negative feelings many still have for the original adventure modules some 30-35 years later, and how the novels petered out into irrelevance years ago, the original trilogy is undoubtedly the most well know narrative arc in the D&D IP. And D&D is an IP which suffers from the significant problem for anyone to turn it into a movie-- it is a collection of familiar set pieces, broad concepts, and genre conventions, not a story.

I'm not sure, but here are some links from my brief searching. There seems to be conflicting information coming from Joe Manganiello and other sources that put director Rob Letterman at the helm and Baby Driver star Ansel Elgort as the star.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2906216/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_3

http://www.slashfilm.com/dungeons-and-dragons-director/

http://www.slashfilm.com/joe-manganiello-has-written-a-dungeons-dragons-movie/

And this one implies Dragonlance plot:

https://geekandsundry.com/delving-into-a-possible-dragonlance-movie/

Well, it's either Dragonlance or Drizzt stuff. And the latter has the inevitable "drow elves are racist" problem.

I would pay money to see a Dragonlance movie. Drizzle not so much.

A GOOD Dragonlance movie?  Sure.  We have one as is, though and it... Isn't fun.  At all.

There's a chance this movie might not be awful. If the creatives in charge have a sense of humour and the self-awareness to make fun of the geeky brand that D&D carries, it could be a medieval Guardians of the Galaxy with mind-blowing effects, snappy one-liners, and a kick-ass 70s and 80s soundtrack featuring Black Sabbath and Rush.

QuoteOpening scene:

Dark-cloaked guy strides through a squalid village in the rain. He comes to the door of a raucous inn and pulls back his hood (Tom Hiddleston). Opening harmonica chords of Sabbath's The Wizard.

He steps inside and we see something out of the cantina scene of Star Wars. Drunk halflings, a green-clad girl throwing darts, exotic robed monks, a barbarian eating half a sheep. A group of orcs loudly place bets on the combatants in a fighting pit - blindfolded dwarf against a kobold.

The wizard takes a seat and watches the monks, who are surreptitiously handing over gold coins to a leprous figure in exchange for an amulet. The dart-thrower turns and we see it's an elf (Kristin Bell). She exchanges a look with the wizard. The barbarian's head is still buried in the sheep carcass.  The blindfolded dwarf swings his club wildly at the kobold. We see the orcs laugh. Sabbath continues.

Slow motion. The elf strides past the monks, snatches the amulet and tosses it into the air to... the barbarian who catches it mid-air and looks up (Vin Diesel).

The monks jump to their feet ready to rumble. The wizard starts casting a spell but he's jostled by a barmaid and fires an array of arcane bolts into the orcs. All hell breaks lose. In the mayhem, the dwarf pulls off his blindfold (Chris O'Dowd) and tries to climb out of the pit while the kobold lunges and snaps at him. Hilarity ensues.

Of course, we'll get nothing of the sort. It sounds like it's being made by a true fan, which means we'll end up with earnest schlock.

We already had a great D&D movie. It was called The Hobbit.

Perhaps you mean the old Hobbit cartoon? Because the newer Hobbit movies were dreck. LOTR was good tho.

The recent Hobbit films were terrible. LOTR was good (or at least for the first two films) but not really D&Dish imo.

The first Dragonlance trilogy is rather weak narratively, the second trilogy about the twins seems stronger stuff for a film if a bit too melodramatic.

A Guardians of the Galaxy approach is a good idea but requires a top flight director and screenwriter to pull off.

I would be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong, but I think it's got about as much chance as an ice elemental in Baator. If they double the quality of the previously films, they might have something good enough to me riffed on the next MST3K season.

Does the name D&D attached to a film lend it box office cachet or does it instead act as a warning of a low-quality cash-grab?

Quote from: Dumarest;1006299Does the name D&D attached to a film lend it box office cachet or does it instead act as a warning of a low-quality cash-grab?

I do not believe that the average potential moviegoer has any recollection of the 2001 flop, nor ever was aware of any of the made-for-tv drek that followed.

D&D could be like comic books, in that it used to be that nerd thing. 20 years of good comic book movies have shown that it can make the leap to the larger audience (even if they haven't all gotten into comic books because of it). Or D&D could be like Firefly/Serenity, in that the niche audience all went and saw the movie, but the wider movie-going audience did not, and you need more than just everyone in your niche to make something a success.

I think a D&D movie's success will be entirely dependent upon how well they do both the movie and the marketing. It could be the next LotR, Spiderman (Toby McGuire version), or Game of Thrones (not a movie, but successful nerd-thing leaped to the screan), or it could be the next Serenity, Warcraft, or Avatar: the Last Airbender. It really could go either way.

I don't think it is important if anyone remembers the first D&D movies because the internet will likely remind/teach them.

I thought In the Name of the King was a pretty good D&D movie...