I had the misfortune last night to stumble upon the 2008 movie Dragon lance. Its an animated movie but with terrible art, animation and some of the lamest fight scenes ever. I gave up after 20 mins, it was just too bad. If you are a sucker for punishment just search on YouTube, the full movie is uploaded.
Looking at the list of official D&D movies it appears they have all been horribly done, with the only good reviews I could see being non-official fan made projects. Combine that with fantasy movies as a whole having many stinkers (In the name of the King, eregon, Warcraft, even the hobbit movies were widely panned), and it leaves me worried we will never see a good D&D adaptation.
The latest official movie has suffered numerous script rewrites, director changes, studio changes and delays. It is now pushed back to May 2022. It certainly has talented people attached to the project but the history of bad movies leaves me doubtful. Do you guys think we could finally get some good movies, or do you think the history of bad cinema will sadly continue? What would it take to make it epic?
Fantasy movies tend to be expensive (at least if they want to look good) and the D&D brand hasn't traditionally been a guarantee to draw large crowds. That puts some constraints on the budget. The current boom D&D enjoys might help with the box office expectations, but the Hollywood bean counters usually err on the cautious side. The most likely way to get a good D&D movie would be for a celebrity to put his or her shoulders under the project. If Tom Cruise played we'd probably have half a dozen well-funded D&D movies already. There are some big names out there, it might very well happen, but so far I haven't seen anyone make that commitment.
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The problem with making a good D&D movie is the same as with making a good movie based on a video game.
Either you try to capture the essence of a role playing tabletop game / video game in which case you make a crappy movie because what makes great D&D and video game experience for the participants does not necessarily translate well into an audience experience
or you assume that D&D for the purpose of a movie is essentially a good fantasy story with heroes going on a quest. In which case there have been a few good movies like that.
I dunno, while Tom Cruise has Mission Impossible now and back in the day had Top Gun ... his attachment really didn't help the Jack Reacher franchise and back in the day and germane to this convo had Legend.
Yes, the Hobbit movies were panned, but let's not forget the "bean counters" at that point were trying to cash in and milk the Tolkien estate for everything they could after the success of the LOTR movies. Back in the day, Willow wasn't bad.
Fantasy, like science fiction, or super heroes or horror, is just hard to do well because frankly good films are difficult to do well period. It took Marvel quite a few iterations from the 80s till early 2000s to figure out how to do movies. WB, the same thing, and some would say still has learning to do or at least is forgetting the lessons it should learn.
I imagine a particular problem with D&D as a movie franchise now is that because of the Hasbro ownership,. the big bosses want a Transformers franchise, and think of the contortions that property went through as it emerged from the mind of Michael Bay. My guess is someone probably did some market research and probably realizes that D&D could probably be made into a good broad appeal entertainment, but to make it accessible for blockbuster and sustained franchise status a lot of "rule of cool" gestures would have to be made that a lot of fans of the game may not exactly recognize or dispute what they'd see on screen.
I mean did anyone recognize the Battleship movie?
I think that's the problem with a D&D movie, you can set it in a particular lore and dramatize it, but in a hobby where a lot of lore is sort of digested as "fluff", the experience of a game with a story made by players and a DM just isn't going to happen. In many ways the social media space that allow Critical Role etc to thrive may be sort of peak for D&D as far as spectacle for audiences goes. I'm ok with that.
There's just too much to D&D and not really a straight narrative to reproduce meaning whatever they make would be a dartboard approach, and given the diffuse nature of the D&D fan base, that means more misses than hits. Headaches like that wind up in what Hollywood calls development hell.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Where are we drawing the line between "fantasy" and "D&D?" And where are we drawing the line between "good" and "bad?" What is the absolute best film adaptation of a game? The Angelina Jolie Tomb Raiders? Where are we setting our sights? There are any number of fantasy movies that I'd consider "a good D&D movie," starting with Wizard of Oz.
What would it take to get an epic movie that had the official dragon ampersand on it? I'm going to say - Disney buys Hasbro/Wizards specifically for the IP and switches on their vast committee moviemaking production line, and then we're third in line after My Little Pony and G.I. Joe.
What would it take to get an epic movie that had the official dragon ampersand on it? I'm going to say - Disney buys Hasbro/Wizards specifically for the IP and switches on their vast committee moviemaking production line, and then we're third in line after My Little Pony and G.I. Joe.
Well, we're getting one - a D&D movie with the official branding. Moved from Q4 of this year to Q2 of next year, but it's being worked on. Starring Chris Pine, Hugh Grant and Michelle Rodriguez, among others. Not quite top names, but certainly big ones - just not people doing it because they love D&D.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
It has been said that Joe Maganello (however you spell his surname) was assisting with writing and design. He's one of the most passionate supporters of d&d and should be a good influence, but whether his input has survived the studio and director changes is unknown.
Lord of the rings is the obvious gold standard of fantasy movies, huge budget, great source material, well received and financial mega hit. But they were building on novels with a clear storyline and an existing fan base. D&D doesn't have the single story to reproduce.
It has been said that Joe Maganello (however you spell his surname) was assisting with writing and design. He's one of the most passionate supporters of d&d and should be a good influence, but whether his input has survived the studio and director changes is unknown.
Has it? I can't find any suggestion of that, other than that he co-wrote a Dragonlance-based script years ago that has no part in the current production.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
It has been said that Joe Maganello (however you spell his surname) was assisting with writing and design. He's one of the most passionate supporters of d&d and should be a good influence, but whether his input has survived the studio and director changes is unknown.
Has it? I can't find any suggestion of that, other than that he co-wrote a Dragonlance-based script years ago that has no part in the current production.
I saw this mention on the Wikipedia page, under the details for this new project (so take with a grain of salt):
"That same year, Joe Manganiello, an avid fan of the role-playing game, took it upon himself to revitalize the progression of a film adaptation. The actor revealed that he had been negotiating the rights to make the film, while Manganiello and John Cassel were hired to co-write the script for the project"
I think the big problem with a D&D movie ends up being setting. Most D&D worlds end up as pretty generic fantasy. If they put it in forgotten realms, for example, there’s elves and dwarves and humans and halflings and some evil plot and they end up saving the world. It’s been done a million times.
The plot and acting and directing will matter a lot, but I hope they put it in a different setting, maybe eberron or dark sun or planescape. Something really different. Then at least there will be some elements that are new. Otherwise it runs the risk of just being the latest version of the same story.
If you are talking about specifically Dungeons And Dragons movies, and I think you are, then we're never going to see a good one. The ones I have seen try were disasters.
Moving further afield, even if you restrict yourself to swords and sorcery fantasy, there's just so many movies out there, good and bad that it's well neigh impossible to pick just one. That said, of the few I know, if I have to pick just *one*... See "The Princess Bride".
I think instead of having "the D&D movie" whoever is making these movies should pick a theme and go with it "Dungeons and Dragons" is an extremely broad multiverse. Heck, the prewrittens can write scripts for them! I would love to see a Tomb of Annihilation movie with Acerak played by Jeff Goldblum
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my name is not Bryce
Actor
Certified Dark Sun enjoyer
usually on forum games and not contributing to conversations ¯\_ (ツ)_/
For every user who writes 5 paragraph essays as each of their posts: Remember to touch grass occasionally
If you want movies that capture the feel of D&D I recommend the Mythica movies. It's a series of five indie films made as one big project between 2014-17 iirc. Production value is somewhat low but it's really impressive with what they managed to do with a low budget and the movies actually feel like a D&D game, including the episodic element as the story follows a party of adventurers from when they form up at the beginning and then through a long term epic quest culminating with the final installment being an apocalyptic showdown with the BBEG that's subtitled "The Godslayer." Yes, it's a bit corny at times but it's also serious on the whole, much like many fun D&D games. Also, for the corny factor the second movie introduces the Big Bad Szorlock, an evil necromancer seeking to become the "Lich King Reborn" and conquer the world, who is played by one Matt Mercer and boy does he ham it up (the parts where he's talking smack back and forth with Kevin Sorbo are particularly glorious; oh yeah, Sorbo plays the wizard protagonist's mentor figure). They aren't Oscar material by any stretch but they're definitely entertaining if you're looking for the feel of D&D in about eight or so hours of film. I actually watched all five back to back in a marathon session on a day I didn't have anything else to do and it was great. They're available on Amazon Prime where I watched them and I believe Netflix as well.
The one I have not seen mentioned was the last witch hunter, that was based entirely on Vin Diesel’s dnd character if the story is to be believed (joe magniello has called vin Diesal out on his DND credentials claiming that he doesn’t know anyone who has ever actually played with him in Hollywood).
Persoanlly I want a tongue in cheek approach to the genre, Star Trek had a man in red die seconds after being introduced, I would love to see a character die early on, and then the same actor portray a different character later in the story ;).
I think instead of having "the D&D movie" whoever is making these movies should pick a theme and go with it "Dungeons and Dragons" is an extremely broad multiverse. Heck, the prewrittens can write scripts for them! I would love to see a Tomb of Annihilation movie with Acerak played by Jeff Goldblum
Out of the abyss would be awesome, the cinematic of the Demagorgan emerging from the lake would be great to see on screen.
Persoanlly I want a tongue in cheek approach to the genre, Star Trek had a man in red die seconds after being introduced, I would love to see a character die early on, and then the same actor portray a different character later in the story ;).
The one I have not seen mentioned was the last witch hunter,
don't know how true the bit about vin diesel is, but Last Witch Hunter presented magic in a very, very cool way. Loved the world they built. Did not expect to enjoy the movie as much as I did. Not a great movie, but definitely a world that was fun to explore.
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I had the misfortune last night to stumble upon the 2008 movie Dragon lance. Its an animated movie but with terrible art, animation and some of the lamest fight scenes ever. I gave up after 20 mins, it was just too bad. If you are a sucker for punishment just search on YouTube, the full movie is uploaded.
Looking at the list of official D&D movies it appears they have all been horribly done, with the only good reviews I could see being non-official fan made projects. Combine that with fantasy movies as a whole having many stinkers (In the name of the King, eregon, Warcraft, even the hobbit movies were widely panned), and it leaves me worried we will never see a good D&D adaptation.
The latest official movie has suffered numerous script rewrites, director changes, studio changes and delays. It is now pushed back to May 2022. It certainly has talented people attached to the project but the history of bad movies leaves me doubtful. Do you guys think we could finally get some good movies, or do you think the history of bad cinema will sadly continue? What would it take to make it epic?
Here is the Problem.. D&D is by design.. An Episodic Epic..
When does any Movie Match that description?
they can never tell more than a part of the stories.
If they try and do more, Movies Fail.
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
Fantasy movies tend to be expensive (at least if they want to look good) and the D&D brand hasn't traditionally been a guarantee to draw large crowds. That puts some constraints on the budget. The current boom D&D enjoys might help with the box office expectations, but the Hollywood bean counters usually err on the cautious side. The most likely way to get a good D&D movie would be for a celebrity to put his or her shoulders under the project. If Tom Cruise played we'd probably have half a dozen well-funded D&D movies already. There are some big names out there, it might very well happen, but so far I haven't seen anyone make that commitment.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The problem with making a good D&D movie is the same as with making a good movie based on a video game.
Either you try to capture the essence of a role playing tabletop game / video game in which case you make a crappy movie because what makes great D&D and video game experience for the participants does not necessarily translate well into an audience experience
or you assume that D&D for the purpose of a movie is essentially a good fantasy story with heroes going on a quest. In which case there have been a few good movies like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkXMxiAGUWg&ab_channel=MatthewColville
Like LotR if you use Matt Colville's funny example. Or Stardust.
I dunno, while Tom Cruise has Mission Impossible now and back in the day had Top Gun ... his attachment really didn't help the Jack Reacher franchise and back in the day and germane to this convo had Legend.
Yes, the Hobbit movies were panned, but let's not forget the "bean counters" at that point were trying to cash in and milk the Tolkien estate for everything they could after the success of the LOTR movies. Back in the day, Willow wasn't bad.
Fantasy, like science fiction, or super heroes or horror, is just hard to do well because frankly good films are difficult to do well period. It took Marvel quite a few iterations from the 80s till early 2000s to figure out how to do movies. WB, the same thing, and some would say still has learning to do or at least is forgetting the lessons it should learn.
I imagine a particular problem with D&D as a movie franchise now is that because of the Hasbro ownership,. the big bosses want a Transformers franchise, and think of the contortions that property went through as it emerged from the mind of Michael Bay. My guess is someone probably did some market research and probably realizes that D&D could probably be made into a good broad appeal entertainment, but to make it accessible for blockbuster and sustained franchise status a lot of "rule of cool" gestures would have to be made that a lot of fans of the game may not exactly recognize or dispute what they'd see on screen.
I mean did anyone recognize the Battleship movie?
I think that's the problem with a D&D movie, you can set it in a particular lore and dramatize it, but in a hobby where a lot of lore is sort of digested as "fluff", the experience of a game with a story made by players and a DM just isn't going to happen. In many ways the social media space that allow Critical Role etc to thrive may be sort of peak for D&D as far as spectacle for audiences goes. I'm ok with that.
There's just too much to D&D and not really a straight narrative to reproduce meaning whatever they make would be a dartboard approach, and given the diffuse nature of the D&D fan base, that means more misses than hits. Headaches like that wind up in what Hollywood calls development hell.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Where are we drawing the line between "fantasy" and "D&D?" And where are we drawing the line between "good" and "bad?" What is the absolute best film adaptation of a game? The Angelina Jolie Tomb Raiders? Where are we setting our sights? There are any number of fantasy movies that I'd consider "a good D&D movie," starting with Wizard of Oz.
What would it take to get an epic movie that had the official dragon ampersand on it? I'm going to say - Disney buys Hasbro/Wizards specifically for the IP and switches on their vast committee moviemaking production line, and then we're third in line after My Little Pony and G.I. Joe.
Well, we're getting one - a D&D movie with the official branding. Moved from Q4 of this year to Q2 of next year, but it's being worked on. Starring Chris Pine, Hugh Grant and Michelle Rodriguez, among others. Not quite top names, but certainly big ones - just not people doing it because they love D&D.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
It has been said that Joe Maganello (however you spell his surname) was assisting with writing and design. He's one of the most passionate supporters of d&d and should be a good influence, but whether his input has survived the studio and director changes is unknown.
Lord of the rings is the obvious gold standard of fantasy movies, huge budget, great source material, well received and financial mega hit. But they were building on novels with a clear storyline and an existing fan base. D&D doesn't have the single story to reproduce.
Has it? I can't find any suggestion of that, other than that he co-wrote a Dragonlance-based script years ago that has no part in the current production.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I saw this mention on the Wikipedia page, under the details for this new project (so take with a grain of salt):
"That same year, Joe Manganiello, an avid fan of the role-playing game, took it upon himself to revitalize the progression of a film adaptation. The actor revealed that he had been negotiating the rights to make the film, while Manganiello and John Cassel were hired to co-write the script for the project"
I think the big problem with a D&D movie ends up being setting. Most D&D worlds end up as pretty generic fantasy. If they put it in forgotten realms, for example, there’s elves and dwarves and humans and halflings and some evil plot and they end up saving the world. It’s been done a million times.
The plot and acting and directing will matter a lot, but I hope they put it in a different setting, maybe eberron or dark sun or planescape. Something really different. Then at least there will be some elements that are new. Otherwise it runs the risk of just being the latest version of the same story.
There's been an article on en world suggesting this is set in Neverwinter.
Not sure whether this is true or not.
If you are talking about specifically Dungeons And Dragons movies, and I think you are, then we're never going to see a good one. The ones I have seen try were disasters.
Moving further afield, even if you restrict yourself to swords and sorcery fantasy, there's just so many movies out there, good and bad that it's well neigh impossible to pick just one. That said, of the few I know, if I have to pick just *one*... See "The Princess Bride".
<Insert clever signature here>
Any truth that next Friday we might get more information on this movie via that D&D Direct advert?
I think instead of having "the D&D movie" whoever is making these movies should pick a theme and go with it "Dungeons and Dragons" is an extremely broad multiverse. Heck, the prewrittens can write scripts for them! I would love to see a Tomb of Annihilation movie with Acerak played by Jeff Goldblum
my name is not Bryce
Actor
Certified Dark Sun enjoyer
usually on forum games and not contributing to conversations ¯\_ (ツ)_/
For every user who writes 5 paragraph essays as each of their posts: Remember to touch grass occasionally
If you want movies that capture the feel of D&D I recommend the Mythica movies. It's a series of five indie films made as one big project between 2014-17 iirc. Production value is somewhat low but it's really impressive with what they managed to do with a low budget and the movies actually feel like a D&D game, including the episodic element as the story follows a party of adventurers from when they form up at the beginning and then through a long term epic quest culminating with the final installment being an apocalyptic showdown with the BBEG that's subtitled "The Godslayer." Yes, it's a bit corny at times but it's also serious on the whole, much like many fun D&D games. Also, for the corny factor the second movie introduces the Big Bad Szorlock, an evil necromancer seeking to become the "Lich King Reborn" and conquer the world, who is played by one Matt Mercer and boy does he ham it up (the parts where he's talking smack back and forth with Kevin Sorbo are particularly glorious; oh yeah, Sorbo plays the wizard protagonist's mentor figure). They aren't Oscar material by any stretch but they're definitely entertaining if you're looking for the feel of D&D in about eight or so hours of film. I actually watched all five back to back in a marathon session on a day I didn't have anything else to do and it was great. They're available on Amazon Prime where I watched them and I believe Netflix as well.
The one I have not seen mentioned was the last witch hunter, that was based entirely on Vin Diesel’s dnd character if the story is to be believed (joe magniello has called vin Diesal out on his DND credentials claiming that he doesn’t know anyone who has ever actually played with him in Hollywood).
Persoanlly I want a tongue in cheek approach to the genre, Star Trek had a man in red die seconds after being introduced, I would love to see a character die early on, and then the same actor portray a different character later in the story ;).
Out of the abyss would be awesome, the cinematic of the Demagorgan emerging from the lake would be great to see on screen.
You should watch “The Gamers”
don't know how true the bit about vin diesel is, but Last Witch Hunter presented magic in a very, very cool way. Loved the world they built. Did not expect to enjoy the movie as much as I did. Not a great movie, but definitely a world that was fun to explore.