First look at the new Dungeons & Dragons film

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Holy shit I just got excited about this movie. If it does well I might get proper Lego D&D figs. And a Lego Owlbear, Lego Mimic, Lego Displacer Beast and Lego Gelatinous Cube!
 
In all reality, a good D&D movie should contain the elements of a good fantasy movie with the setting, characters, and story hearkening back to D&D, rather than trying to make a 'D&D' movie.

Well, I'ld like to see Forgotten Realms presented a bit more seriously.

A film for adults and not children.

I love you guys but I’m glad none of you are in charge of this movie.

The one thing none of these movies ever give us....

a dungeon
There is one in the trailer.
 
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Obviously there is too much money at stake for this film to be anything but a PG-13 flick designed to be as broadly appealing as possible, skewing towards the younger demographic.
 
Yea, if it did super well, they could take a page from Disney and make short series with a variety of feels - comedy, gritty, etc. But they are going to stay in the middle of the road for the first movie.
 
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I love you guys but I’m glad none of you are in charge of this movie.
And why is that? The reason that Marvel movies have the wide appeal that they are is they are not comic book movies first. It's also a reason that a lot of comic geeks get mad, but eh. And I even say that about me with my anger at the Extremis storyline.

Make a good movie with a good story that has the elements of D&D in it, rather than making something just to call it D&D. The best example in the MCU is the Winter Soldier. It's an 80s spy thriller set in a superhero universe with superhero elements. And to me it's the reason it's the best of the MCU.
 
The success of Game of Thrones, Vikings, and The Witcher indicate a big fandom market with more mature tastes.

Also the Middle Earth films and upcoming Amazon series are not primarily aimed at the adolescent market

I think Forgotten Realms works a bit better with a bit more substance to it than I'm seeing in the trailer.
(I'm assuming this film is set in Forgotten Realms).

I'll have to reserve judgement after I see this film

If I see this film.

The last fantasy game-to-film I saw was Warcraft, which initially looked great, but I bored early with it.

The special effects for this one look quite good. This will likely be an enjoyable watch akin to the MCU Thor/Guardians films, and also has some of the fun vibe of Critical Role, so I guess that is the market they are aiming for.

So whilst not overly eager I think I will watch it with that mindset once it hits streaming services.

Not likely to get a box office ticket out of me, but that's okay.
 
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"Truth be told"
"We helped the wrong person to steal the wrong thing"
"We didn't mean to unleash the greatest evil the world has ever known".
"But we are going to fix it!"

"So how do we pull that off?"

"Uh?"

"Figure it out over a drink?"

"Probably best"

(walks to the tavern)

Sorry but that sounds like half of the groups I refereed and I run my stuff pretty straight laced.
Nailed it.
 
I’m surprised it looks as good as it does, to be honest.

This is by the same directors of Game Night, a comedy that was far better than I expected. I'm not a fan of most modern English language film comedies and enjoyed the hell out of it. Pine and Rodriguez are good leads too. So I'm cautiously optimistic.
 
And why is that? The reason that Marvel movies have the wide appeal that they are is they are not comic book movies first. It's also a reason that a lot of comic geeks get mad, but eh. And I even say that about me with my anger at the Extremis storyline.

Make a good movie with a good story that has the elements of D&D in it, rather than making something just to call it D&D. The best example in the MCU is the Winter Soldier. It's an 80s spy thriller set in a superhero universe with superhero elements. And to me it's the reason it's the best of the MCU.

The Winter Soldier was an adaption of a comicbook storyline.
 
Oh well I guess it does it's thing, it makes me somewhat curious due to things I know and recognise being referenced despite the fact that there's not a single piece of evidence of originality or ideas or genuine wit, which is why Hollywood pays for IP, I guess.

I guess I'll see it when it pops up on a streaming service I'm already paying for. (Or at least the beginning - I wouldn't give it good odds that I'd get very far.)
 
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Ok seriously, what would make you hopeful for a D&D movie? What do you want to see?
If the kids in the 5-11 range want to see it and like it, and I don't get deathly bored watching it with them, it's golden:thumbsup:.

I think the winning strategy is the same one Marvel showed with Iron Man 1. A movie that appeals to all ages not just one segment. I saw Iron Man with a 70 year old, 7 year old, 35 year old. All had fun.
Yeah, this is what I'm hoping for as well:grin:!
 
The Winter Soldier was an adaption of a comicbook storyline.
It was also, by the Russo Brothers' admission, very heavily inspired by 3 Days of the Condor...and it followed the beats of that closer than it did the Winter Soldier storyline it was derived from (both of which I thought turned out great...it's still my favorite MCU movie by a mile).
 
The Winter Soldier was an adaption of a comicbook storyline.
I know that, but I'm saying the movie was an espionage movie with all the tropes. The adaptations leaned very heavily into that also. The storyline for Winter Soldier the movie was quite different than the comic.
 
It was also, by the Russo Brothers' admission, very heavily inspired by 3 Days of the Condor...and it followed the beats of that closer than it did the Winter Soldier storyline it was derived from (both of which I thought turned out great...it's still my favorite MCU movie by a mile).

It's not my favourite, but it's definitely one of the peaks of the MCU. But it's also, very much, true to the characters in the comics, regardless of plot.

I think we could pretty easily make a chart showing the films that der ged the furthest from the comic characters they wee based on vs those that faithfully adapted the characters to the big screen and we'd see a direct parallel to how well-regarded those films are.
 
I think my favorite MCU film is still Infinity War. I just like everything about it.
 
It's not my favourite, but it's definitely one of the peaks of the MCU. But it's also, very much, true to the characters in the comics, regardless of plot.

I think we could pretty easily make a chart showing the films that der ged the furthest from the comic characters they wee based on vs those that faithfully adapted the characters to the big screen and we'd see a direct parallel to how well-regarded those films are.
In the Comics, Steve's arc was with Sharon, not Nat. They changed it and changed it to friendship because of Van Camp's obligations. Fury and Falcon also have a much more prominent role in the movie. Red Skull/Lukin were the main antagonists, so the friendship that existed between Paul Newman's character and Nick Fury was not there- it was instead antagonistic with Red Skull working behind the scenes. The fall of SHIELD was also not in the comic.

A good article on how the Russo's changed it: https://mashable.com/video/whats-the-difference-captain-american-the-winter-soldier
 
In the Comics, Steve's arc was with Sharon, not Nat. They changed it and changed it to friendship because of Van Camp's obligations. Fury and Falcon also have a much more prominent role in the movie. Red Skull/Lukin were the main antagonists, so the friendship that existed between Paul Newman's character and Nick Fury was not there- it was instead antagonistic with Red Skull working behind the scenes. The fall of SHIELD was also not in the comic.

A good article on how the Russo's changed it: https://mashable.com/video/whats-the-difference-captain-american-the-winter-soldier

That's all plot stuff though. No film is going to have the exact same plot as a comic, and no comicbook fan expects that. What matters is getting the characters right, that's what being faithful to the comics means, and that's what comicbook fans want. When they complain about comicbook films not being faithful to the source material, it means they f-ed over the characters. Hence Winter Soldier is held in high regard by comicbook fans, and the Black Widow film is not. So when you say " The reason that Marvel movies have the wide appeal that they are is they are not comic book movies first", I don't know what that means, because the MCU gained the huge popularity it has now by finally being actuallly faithful to the comicbooks. If you're talking about genre , wellsuperheroes are not a genre, they are a character archetype that can fit into any genre. That Hollywood seemed to have been figuring that out suddenly with the MCU means they are 60 years behind the comics themselves.
 
That's all plot stuff though. No film is going to have the exact same plot as a comic, and no comicbook fan expects that. What matters is getting the characters right, that's what being faithful to the comics means, and that's what comicbook fans want. When they complain about comicbook films not being faithful to the source material, it means they f-ed over the characters. Hence Winter Soldier is held in high regard by comicbook fans, and the Black Widow film is not. So when you say " The reason that Marvel movies have the wide appeal that they are is they are not comic book movies first", I don't know what that means, because the MCU gained the huge popularity it has now by finally being actuallly faithful to the comicbooks. If you're talking about genre , wellsuperheroes are not a genre, they are a character archetype that can fit into any genre. That Hollywood seemed to have been figuring that out suddenly with the MCU means they are 60 years behind the comics themselves.
Yup.

Details can change as long as the essence is correct.

That's where the X-Men movies fell flat on their face for years: Outside of maybe one or two characters, the rest were either a name attached to a special effect or sometimes not even that close to the source.

Now, to Chuck's point, I think Marvel has created enough of a marketing engine that they can increasingly do pretty much whatever they want to, with the comic fans being scoffed at for voicing complaints...but the foundations for the MCU were 100% built on "getting it right".
 
I understand that, from a pure gaming/module design point of view, Drangonlance is controversial. But given the novels were bestsellers, wouldn't they be the natural starting point for a D&D movie?
 
I understand that, from a pure gaming/module design point of view, Drangonlance is controversial. But given the novels were bestsellers, wouldn't they be the natural starting point for a D&D movie?
The authors seem to possess some of the rights. I bet they would have had to share royalties if the name Dragonlance is used. I'm just guessing as I don't follow the DL world.
 
o when you say " The reason that Marvel movies have the wide appeal that they are is they are not comic book movies first", I don't know what that means, because the MCU gained the huge popularity it has now by finally being actuallly faithful to the comicbooks.
Because the plot points are changed to suit the medium, rather than the medium being in service to the plot. I'm not talking about comics fans- I'm talking about wide appeal even from people that don't like the comics. There are people that think comics are drivel that gush over the MCU. You don't want just a subgenre of fans to like something like a movie- you want the larger mass media to catch on to it.
 
The authors seem to possess some of the rights. I bet they would have had to share royalties if the name Dragonlance is used. I'm just guessing as I don't follow the DL world.
They have no legal rights, but they have a bunch of political sway with the fanbase.

But there was an animated DL movie back in 2008. It ... was not received well.

As for the trailer, I couldn't help flashing back to the 2000 movie when I saw it, as it gave me a similar feel with better effects and the Whedonesque/snarky dialog turned up to 11. But I'm not the target audience.
 
I always said if they can made a D&D movie that’s about on par with the remake of Clash of the Titans, they will succeed. This looks to be of similar quality.
 
I always said if they can made a D&D movie that’s about on par with the remake of Clash of the Titans, they will succeed. This looks to be of similar quality.

I'm reserving judgement, but that seems a best case scenario. Based solely on that trailer though , I could also see it being similiar quality to Your Highness...
 
This movie doesn’t look like any D&D game I have ever played in but I think it has the potential to pull in non gamers.

The characters and plot sound real damn close to a beer and pretzels game I ran back when 3.5e was big. We had a blast so I'm hoping they were spying on us! Players really screwed over the world and went to fix it. Mix in cool fights, big laughs, and some mindless fun.. what can go wrong besides every previous D&D movie? :grin:
 
It looks like it's following the popular formula, so I'd expect it would find an audience among people who like that sort of thing.
It's not for me though.
 
I always said if they can made a D&D movie that’s about on par with the remake of Clash of the Titans, they will succeed. This looks to be of similar quality.
This looks fun. That movie was not.

If this had been a completely brand new IP, I would have still shrugged at the trailer and went "fuck it, I'm in".
 
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