Wasn't Richard O'Brien in the first film as a thief lord/king/big-cheese? It's about the only thing I vaguely remember from the movie apart from there being dragons. The sequel was equally forgettable and possibly worse.
Warner Bros. Acquires Dungeons & Dragons Film Rights
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Well, that direct to DVD one was okay. But then, remember those jokes about how you could make a better D&D movie by basing the script on some gamer's campaign notes? Well I'm pretty sure that's what they did with this one. The party went on a dungeon crawl, with each class filling its in game role. Roll credits.Quaxar said:
As for this one: why? No, seriously, why? A D&D movie is like a Minecraft movie. The game is just a bunch of building blocks for a group of people to put together into a good time, with cheetos and dice. Sure there's tie in novels they could adapt, but then that's not what they're doing, is it? They're basing it on the game.
Salvatore has been showing strong interest in a Drizzt Do'Urden movie since 2008, and the Forgotten Realms is one of the more popular D&D campaigns. That already gives it a large fan base as every book with Drizzt in it has been a NYTimes best seller.
Or maybe I'm just justifying a movie I've wanted since I was a child after 20 years of reading about him!
Or maybe I'm just justifying a movie I've wanted since I was a child after 20 years of reading about him!
come on now, how hard is it to make a good movie? The general adventures make decent story fodder, while player choices, interactions and creativity add humor, individuality and growth. Need drama? Try an prisoner dilemma. Don't be afraid to let a character actually die. Don't take it too seriously...
-sigh- I made a character once who's partial goal was just to find 101 uses for a common cloth sack. Think that came out of an argument with the gm about not selling me some early on. Thus, any time I could find something to use one for, I did. Countless attempts failed horribly and bad dice made some backfire. But man, when they worked, oh...so much fun.
What does this have to do with movies? Well, both the D&D movies lacked that sort of personality. The identity of the players behind the characters, so to speak and the creativity that stems from different perspectives reacting to the same plot as it goes. Even ignoring the terrible acting, the characters just felt like they were actors in a play with roles already planned rather then what most of the fun of D&D is, the discovery of the background plot, and the great screwing it all up. It might not seem like much, but stuffing a sack full of shit and smoke bombs and throwing it flaming into a goblin camp was some of the best fun I had. It had the gm looking at me like as though silently asking "why...?", the party laughing and thanks to flexibility and a lucky roll, it actually helped the party itself. I guess I just wish they could capture that sort of fun of unpredictable reactions to the same tired scenarios. Yeah yeah, sneak in and stealth kill the goblin camp or berserk rush it or cast spells from afar. Show me a movie where the unseen hands of a vengeful gm is punishing a bad roll in hilarious fashion though, and think I'd enjoy it.
-sigh- I made a character once who's partial goal was just to find 101 uses for a common cloth sack. Think that came out of an argument with the gm about not selling me some early on. Thus, any time I could find something to use one for, I did. Countless attempts failed horribly and bad dice made some backfire. But man, when they worked, oh...so much fun.
What does this have to do with movies? Well, both the D&D movies lacked that sort of personality. The identity of the players behind the characters, so to speak and the creativity that stems from different perspectives reacting to the same plot as it goes. Even ignoring the terrible acting, the characters just felt like they were actors in a play with roles already planned rather then what most of the fun of D&D is, the discovery of the background plot, and the great screwing it all up. It might not seem like much, but stuffing a sack full of shit and smoke bombs and throwing it flaming into a goblin camp was some of the best fun I had. It had the gm looking at me like as though silently asking "why...?", the party laughing and thanks to flexibility and a lucky roll, it actually helped the party itself. I guess I just wish they could capture that sort of fun of unpredictable reactions to the same tired scenarios. Yeah yeah, sneak in and stealth kill the goblin camp or berserk rush it or cast spells from afar. Show me a movie where the unseen hands of a vengeful gm is punishing a bad roll in hilarious fashion though, and think I'd enjoy it.
Well, if I remember correctly, Planescape and Sigil don't exist anymore in the newest editions, or am I worng?
About the movie, well good luck. It would be awesome to have a cool DnD-Movie, but given the directors history (Wrath of the Titans and stuff...) I doubt it. Its not that easy to do really, as you don't exactly have a story to beginn with. With the licens you more or less simply buy the right to use DnD-names. You have to come up with a story yourself, unlike Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. This can be good, if you have a good writer, but I guess its gonna be some kind of brains-out rollercoster as Wrath of the Titans was. And that I simply have no interest in.
Seriously? That sounds like a themed bad movie night waiting to happen. I actually kind of liked the first direct to DVD one, so if there's a newer entry that's better (or two? I'm not sure if you were referring to the series as a whole or just the direct to DVD ones), it ought to be pretty entertaining.Nimzabaat said:
as has been stated most big attempts to make this in to a not-ass movie have failed spectacularly, I tell you what Would be good though a Movie adaptation of the D&D cartoon show using the idea bones of it if nothing else.
for those not informed of this show its premise was a groups of kids some friends some not yet friends get on this carnival ride that ultimately transports them to the world of D&D where they each are given a class and power set by a mysterious being called Dungeon Master, the series was basically a drawn out campaign or series of them if memory serves.
A polished and improved version of this idea would be very nice as it would blend a bit of camp with some seriousness and not fuck it up, well maybe that isn't a guarantee I have seen movies whose source material would guarantee gold status but they still fuck it up horribly.
Now the idea of using a groups Notes to make a movie from, that sounds nice to me if it is an especially good group
(and before ANYBODY opens their mouth about it, yes this is Subjective because you can play the game anyway you want but for the purposes of this discussion we will go by how rich and engaging the group makes the game)
then there will be a lot of meat to make this movie from
for those not informed of this show its premise was a groups of kids some friends some not yet friends get on this carnival ride that ultimately transports them to the world of D&D where they each are given a class and power set by a mysterious being called Dungeon Master, the series was basically a drawn out campaign or series of them if memory serves.
A polished and improved version of this idea would be very nice as it would blend a bit of camp with some seriousness and not fuck it up, well maybe that isn't a guarantee I have seen movies whose source material would guarantee gold status but they still fuck it up horribly.
Now the idea of using a groups Notes to make a movie from, that sounds nice to me if it is an especially good group
(and before ANYBODY opens their mouth about it, yes this is Subjective because you can play the game anyway you want but for the purposes of this discussion we will go by how rich and engaging the group makes the game)
then there will be a lot of meat to make this movie from
Is it too much to hope that this movie will center around the Tomb of Horrors or possibly the Temple of Elemental Evil? I would also settle for the Barrier Peaks or White Plume Mountain.
So the writer of the new Wrath of the Titans (which I hated) and Red Riding Hood (which I kind of liked, in a ridiculous Sleepy Hollow way, but it was hardly good), and the terrible director of the horrible first movie. Forget it. The that first atrocity [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406728/].
The best D&D-esque movies are second film was much better [http://deadgentlemen.com/projects/the-gamers-series/the-gamers/], and the third one is currently in production.
The best D&D-esque movies are second film was much better [http://deadgentlemen.com/projects/the-gamers-series/the-gamers/], and the third one is currently in production.
I've never liked Drizzt or cared much for the Realms, but I can't deny they're the most popular things actually connected to D&D. This idea makes a lot more sense than just doing another bland, generic medieval European sword & sorcery flick. Hell, why not do a story set on Eberron? If you're going to do D&D, which every fantasy property has been mining for tropes for 40 years anyway, why not pick the most out-there stuff no one has even tried to touch?Citizen Snips said:
If they did one that was intentionally taking the piss out of the whole genre of fantasy, it could be good. Otherwise, they have a challenge on their hands.
You're not alone. Done right, they could easily pull off The Dark Elf Trilogy and Icewind Dale in a serious manner.Citizen Snips said:
But, chances are, they just want to use the DnD name to shit out a generic fantasy turd and hope to make a quick buck.
Well the latest one that I saw was "Book of Vile Darkness". Once again not... good, but better than "Wrath of the Dragon God" (may have that wrong). The fight scenes were slightly better, some decent effects (not all but some), some recognizable character classes (Vermin Lord, Assassin, Thrallherd (I think)). It gave me hope that by the sixth or seventh movie they'd be watchable. So now i'm cautiously optimistic about that happening a little sooner.Owyn_Merrilin said:
Even watched The Gamers or The Gamers: Dorkness Rising? Also, the direct to DVD sequel to the D&D movie was decent.Quaxar said:
There are also films like Mazes and Monsters and Skullduggery which were meant to demonize D&D but are just hilarious to someone who actually played D&D.
Heh, I came to the comments to say basically this. The first movie was decent, the second was a big jump over the first. I definitely recommend it.Falseprophet said:
As for DnD the movie, I saw the horrid 2000 one in the theaters. The theater collectively started to MST3K it by about 10 mins in. It was quite fun in those regards.
I'd go to that in a heartbeat!Citizen Snips said:
I love Drizzt and I think they can make a really successful movie franchise with this.
Though it would be nice for Greyhawk to be the more dominant setting...
This has always been how I chose to view that movie. The most telling scene for me is when the neutral stupid thief steals a stuffed cat while walking through a market just because he is a thief. Those are the actions of a bored player looking for a laugh, not a competent thief trying to make a profit.Alluos said:
It would also explain the stilted dialogue and generally poorly written nature of the film.
OT: There are already so many good books set in any of the D&D universes, (a lot of mediocre too) WB should probably just try to adapt one of the better series to film rather than try to build a whole new setting like the last one.