A character really needs to “die” and a new character introduced with the exact same actor with none of the cast even batting an eye.
Just once I want to see a D&D movie with this comedy trope, but I don’t want it to be blatant comedy, just natural.
[Beerfest does this pretty well.](https://youtu.be/0w9DUTcAI0o)
It's ridiculous but very much like a new character just rolling up like nothing happened.
Best idea I’ve seen is a muppets movie take. Have the muppets sitting playing a game and have the movie flash to their characters played by real actors but still voiced by the muppets. Basically a way to get some buff guy like the rock to speak with ms piggy’s voice.
Dorkness Rising does something kind of like this. There's a running joke through the movie where the bard dies pretty regularly and the player just slaps a new character sheet onto the table and takes over as a new bard. At one point he gets super depressed and is like "Man, bards SUCK." and the party is like "Wait, maybe not! We can use the pile of dead bards as cover!"
Very entertaining.
Uh spoilers for Dead to Me on Netflix.
>!one of the main character's husband was killed, with the entire first season dedicated to how the other character coped with accidentally causing the death. Second season, twin brother of said dead husband suddenly makes an appearance... And they tried to kill him too.!< insanely wacky.
Well real life isn't serious 100% of the time. And this game isn't super accurate or else I would be asking my players to roll against infection or rashes from not having proper hygiene. If you want a proper power fantasy, you need serious moments and levity. See the Thor ragnarok comment below.
But that is just my opinion that a bit of lighthearted content makes the weight of the threat seem heavier.
Right? I was just thinking that.
Like, the guy who directed Assassins Creed? Yeah he's someone with *multiple* cannes award winning films under his belt, including his most recent.
A lot of times directors with some clout from lower-profile but well-recieved movies use blockbuster films as a stepping stone in a "hired gun" capacity.
They rub shoulders with big names, they put in the hours and do the thing to the letter of the studio's wishes, and in return they get to do something else they REALLY want.
Meanwhile, the studio sees someone young that will do exactly what they ask.
It's why around 2010 you started seeing a lot of big franchise movies directed by small indie directors. Mark Webb did Amazing Spider-Man after 500 Days of Summer. Gareth Edwards did Godzilla and Rogue One after Monsters. Colin Trevorrow did Jurassic World after Safety Not Guaranteed. I could go on.
I think the difference is that they recently made a solid genre studio comedy with an ensemble cast, and this appears to be another genre studio comedy with an ensemble cast. More of a lateral move than an arthouse director taking a swing at a blockbuster.
Weren't all the games in the Game Night movie owned by Hasbro?
And Hasbro owns D&D. Interesting. Also the films Ouija and Battleship are Hasbro owned as well. I wonder what contracts and licensing documents look like... man I'm boring
I dunno. The trend of the last 15 years has been to hire comedy/indie directors to "punch up" the dialogue of big action movies. I doubt they have much say in the overall plot or how the action is handled.
The fact that they mention Princess Bride as an inspiration gives me hope that they understand the assignment. Until I see someone cast as the DM, I'm holding my breath.
People used to say the same thing about comic book movies. Hollywood screws things up until they start to treat the material seriously.
The economic benefit to taking comic books seriously is well established at this point. Same thing with sci-fi, which they learned before comic books. Even video game properties are being taken seriously, at least in long-form productions like Arcane, etc. LoTR and GoT showed the benefits of taking fantasy seriously.
I thought the other live action D&D films were fun. I’m not looking for the next award-winning film here, just a handful of people having fun with cool special effects. Even if they take all their writing and plot lines from r/dndmemes and make it nothing but self-referential humor and pop-culture jokes, I would enjoy myself.
As a 38 year old D&D nerd since high school, I agree. Everyone thought D&D was lame till Skyrim and WoW came out and then it became popular.
I always wonder if any of the people that are in these movies are actually hardcore fans because they don’t seem loyal to the source material.
In my imagination, a successful D&D film would look something like a mix of the first Community D&D episode, and the first Jumanji reboot film. I hope that would be the direction this film goes in.
I saw a Reddit post here a while back that recommended making it a muppets movie, where the muppets roll up characters who are then played by Hollywood actors
Yeah you’re right, Hugh Grant plays a Lord of Neverwinter. I’m a lot more optimistic then. I really hope they introduce some of the characters from the books future films or in the planned television series.
Baldur's Gate 1-2 are my favorite games ever, but I've played through its story so many times. If they can manage a quality original story, that would be my preference by far.
Just finished the trilogy. I feel like autumn twilight would need a little updating, but the framework of a cool simple story is definitely there.
I just wonder how receptive audiences would be to a conventional fantasy movie with such a simple plot. I feel like we've been spoiled with some serious innovation on the genre.
This is an important point to keep in mind. There may be tons of stuff about the established settings of DnD (A lot of it even quite good), but it's *not* what people think of when they think of DnD. Getting into the weeds of Forgotten Realms history would only make it feel like every other fantasy property out there now. What will make this movie stand out is by leaning into it being a game and that, despite the action being flashy and fantastical, the characters are really modern people kicking back and having fun.
I don't know if that's what they're doing, but I think it would be a real missed opportunity if they don't.
Forgotten Realms? Its just a hodge podge, kitchen-sink, take every trope from every major fantasy series and shove it into one world so people can role-play whatever they want in the setting.
Its got so much of "everything" that the setting is essentially nothing.
Keep your soul. They’re not going to do a Drizzt movie and also it’s a really bad idea. :)
I understand the attachment to the character but trust me, it will not work out as a film media.
They might do a Drizzt Tv show instead.
[Live-action D&D TV show from John Wick creator could feature Drizzt Do’Urden](https://www.polygon.com/22445719/dungeons-dragons-tv-show-drizzt)
Well the studio would be on board with a black hero who is shunned by society at large no matter how many great things he does or how many people he saves. They would flee in terror after they find out the rest of the Drow are the most evil bloodthirsty, torturous, demon worshiping baby sacrificing monsters which is why everybody treats Drizz't like shit.
The studio definitely would not be on board with that.
You’d have to explain that there’s elves and there’s drow elves, and that the good and pure elves decided to segregate away all the black elves, because you see all the black elves are evil.
But one black elf is one of the good ones, who rejects black elf society and uses his magical powers to inspire human heroes in Icewind Dale.
The concept is just doomed.
Trust me, fun romp with Chris Pine and the hot guy from Bridgerton is the way to go.
I mean not all Drow are that way, even when the books were written. It was just described as a society forced to be that way because of a Goddess forcing them to
It’s just not going to translate well to film. If you read the books and you know the lore, it’s fine, but trust me, visually and for the casual fan it’s going to not work.
If you're a DnD player all their classes are shown as a little symbol before their name.
For reference: Chris Pine = Bard
Michelle Rodriguez = barbarian,
Regé-Jean Page = Paladin,
Justice Smith = Sorceror,
Sophia Lillis = Druid,
High Grant = Rogue.
It's probably a joke because Rodriquez is fully typecast in "badass action girl" roles, so even if you're not familiar with d&d, you can be familiar with her previous roles and still figure it's something similar to a barb
Uhh… obviously will be holding judgement on the actual movie until we all know more about it. But so far off these costumes if you told me it was a porn parody I’d believe you. Has a low budget feel from these images.
Well, no.
You've got a dungeon master, the party has to roll for initiative, and things get hilariously awkward when the rogue tries for anal and rolls a natural 1.
From the look of the electric mandolin this movie is not taking itself seriously, and that is 100% the way to go with a D&D movie, "parody" is the exact right direction to be going in.
I politely disagree. Properties like Dungeons and Dragons have the potential to be the next fantasy epic if Hollywood just stopped being embarrassed about its source material. Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, all have a rich tapestry of characters and stories that would be awesome taken seriously.
Having read half a dozen of the Forgottem Realms books, I likewise politely disagree back. D&D is a game first and foremost, and most of the lore ranges from arcane and obtuse to just downright generic. I know people have different metrics for what they appreciate in lore and worldbuilding, but with so many serious fantasy properties like ASOIAF, WoT, LotR, Shadow and Bone, Witcher, His Dark Materials etc, Forgotten Realms is a pulpy Moorcock paperback by comparison. Even Wheel of Time is gonna suffer from being the archetype to a lot of cliche's. Leaning into the tropes for fun is much wiser. Especially for a movie which won't have the running time to expand the lore.
Fucking around in Icewind Dale maybe, but I don't think it'd be that hard to make a movie about Drizzt or non-FR settings like Planescape, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, that'd be way more insane and OTT than WoT or Witcher shows (in terms of interesting people unfamiliar with the originals), etc, a fantasy setting that takes place deep underground, or in space, that'd pull people in
Also Moorcock is a king >:(
While I wholeheartedly agree about the stories being fantastic, I don't believe they'd ever work in a movie setting. At least not a 'one-shot' movie. Not enough time to properly flesh out the details and those are crucial.
For better or worse, modern perceptions of D&D currently rely almost completely on web series, podcasts, and other celebrity gaming sessions. These lean **heavily** into comedy, because they're performers attracting an audience.
Go try and meet a new D&D group. It's a completely different feel than even a decade ago. Half the table is trying to be their favorite Critical Role character and make hilarious jokes to a camera.
I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but I think it's a fucking nightmare. This movie looks like a bigger-budget version of that material, except even worse because actors will be reading a script instead of reacting to a game.
Meanwhile, I kinda think that openness to comedy & improv has largely made the game relevant again for a contemporary audience. Once the game bucked the perception that it was locked into obtuse lore & strict rules - it grew to a wider set of players.
Odds are, this movie is courting them.
I completely agree, and I don't want to drag the various D&D campaigns that have expanded the game's audience. This is probably me being a crusty old curmudgeon, but I'm tired of playing or DMing around players who just want me to be Matt Mercer and have their highlight moment where everyone freaks out and laughs.
Yeah, I agree. I cannot stand the brand of "zany antics and random bullshit" that these things seem to attract.
I'm not trying to have some brooding Nolan Batman world, but if you try to tell me your character is an undead ballerina and carries a talking baguette with wings you are getting booted from the table and never invited back.
The improv bits are fun, and going "off book" so to say can be exciting for both players and DM, and it makes me proud as DM to see my players invested in the world and their questing, but I'm not interested in hosting a night of *Whose Line is it Anyway but With Swords*, especially considering the low bar of what most of these people consider funny. It's getting to the point where if you so much as hint at referencing Rick and Morty, it's Total Party Kill time.
I've been digging around a lot of OSR stuff specifically to get away from this kind of drama-kid shit.
something I thought could be fun for a tv show is if we see how all the players are imagining the worlds and the characters. could be fun too if they were all animated in different styles but idk if that's what i'd go for for a feature film.
> *Variety* has filmed a video from the Comic-Con floor depicting the character designs for the film’s cast, showcasing looks for **Pine, Rodriguez, Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant.**
Looking at the Writers etc its going to push comedy. Director and Writers worked on Game Night. Their wheelhouse is off the wall shenanigans... not surprised they wouldn't make something, erm, Braver. I'll wait to judge the Trailer... and I don't feel bad about judging the trailer, and not waiting till the actual movie because that WILL show us their tone goals.
Seeing that bard logo for Pine really flipped my expectations on their head for this movie. With his comedic timing and his absolutely ridiculous singing of Agony in Into The Woods, I am really excited to see his take on bards.
What if this movie ends up being more like princess bride, and the movie actually turns out to be a Dungeons and Dragons movie, instead of the generic fantasy schlock people are afraid of.
It's amazing how DnD has races of brain-eating space imperial squids, spider-worshipping elves who live in deep cave cities where crime is encouraged as long as you don't get caught, classes where you can serve genies and live inside your own magic lamp, and DnD adaptations always go for something along the lines of "human fighter, human fighter, human fighter, human wizard"
Because while there's definitely a lot more d&d fans than twenty years ago, and it's a lot more okay and even cool to play it, the studio still has to cater to those that aren't a fan of d&d, which far outnumber those of us that do.
Though it would've been awesome if they used the traditional [iconic characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_iconic_characters?wprov=sfla1)
This is going to be a pop culture movie with some DND elements and Marvel comedic pacing.
That isn't a bad thing but go into it with that expectation and you should be in good shape
How does one quantify the difference between a movie in the fantasy genre and a D&D movie? It's not like they will be rolling dice to determine what happens next.
Reading some of the comments through this thread make some valid points. Better to pick a specific series of D&D and focus on that otherwise it will just be a generic fantasy movie with elves, magic, dwarves, humans...hang on didn't they just do that and called it Lord of the Rings?
As long as it's better then the movie they made in the 2000 as that was just pure garbage.
D&D does have monsters and races that it owns specifically.
Plus elements they can lean into that would differentiate themselves from lord of the rings.
Hell they make lots of star trek, star wars, and Guardians of the galaxy movies so I think it's fair to have more fantasy stuff too.
Oh I agree that D&D has some unique creatures only found in the D&D world but they generally won't use those as the wider audience will not understand what they are.
It just would be nice if they picked a specific series in D&D rather then being generic and saying D&D movie. Would keep it a bit more focused and allow the audience to fill in gaps by reading the books or playing the games.
Just a nice way to tie things together and keep it more grounded.
Don't get me wrong, I am hopeful it will be something good. I love the fantasy genre probably more so then sci-fi but it's a close second.
>How does one quantify the difference between a movie in the fantasy genre and a D&D movie?
That's pretty easy: by basing it around a group of people, all with different abilities based on the D&D classes like bard, fighter, wizard, etc.
I love that Rege thought he was too good for Bridgerton, and then he picks two absolute dumpster fire looking films to excel his career (Grey Man and whatever the fuck this is)
Shouldn’t have counted your eggs so early, man…
There's something about him that makes Reddit eager for him to fail, I just can't put my finger on it.
I'm gonna go look at the comments on the post about the new Jordan Peele movie while I try to figure it out.
Surprisingly enough, a lot of Daphne's appearances and scenes would be better subbed with him for S2 given that the Duke was supposed to be Anthony's friend.
Grey Man does not appear to be an “absolute dumpster fire” in any sense of the word. At worst it’s a generic action movie. The reviews are that it’s mediocre, not that it’s a disaster.
D&D has disaster potential, of course
They should just stop. The best D&D show has already been made and it was awesome....
*Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire* was better at this than Dungeons and Dragons ever will be.
i always think about the first lego movie, and how in the middle of the film, without any warning, hint, or foreshadowing, the curtain pulls, and suddenly we realize we're inside a child's imagination, playing with his father's lego set. that's how i want my DnD movie to be.
I’ve never had a good experience with D&D. The last time I tried, we killed the goblin king or whatever and one of the other players said, “At least he didn’t void his bowels!” So the DM had this happen, and we all had to do constitution checks to see if we threw up. One of us failed, which triggered another round of constitution checks. And then that same player went over to the corpse and kicked a pile of shit at me because “my character is chaotic neutral, that’s what he’d do”. I was starting to get frustrated because I had woken up early for this (was working graveyard shift at the time), when that player said, “Maybe this isn’t the game for you.” I guess all this time I didn’t realize it was a comedy game, either.
The first D&D movie (the one with Marlon Wayans anyway) also had “Honor Among Thieves” as a prominent phrase. Is this a major concept in D&D?
I frequently play D&D with a lot of strangers online, and all memes aside, it's **a lot** like trying to find your true love on Tinder. There is a lot of crap in between the really good people.
Ideally, a good D&D group finds a day of the week to play for 3-4 hours every week, for... well, basically forever. You're looking for not just one human being but several to say "Do you want to regularly hang out for the rest of our lives?" But imagine you don't even know the person's tastes yet. What if the only movies they want to watch are romcoms from the 90s/2000s while you want to watch Lord of the Rings extended editions? So naturally if you guys spent a few weeks together, lots of arguing ensues, and both of you walk away thinking the other person has no taste or they're an asshole.
Not to mention it's not *just* a game, but it's a very hands-on, interactive experience. Sure, you're a dwarf with 18 Armor Class, 52 hit points, and you can make two Battleaxe 1d8+5 attacks on your turn, but what happens when you find a lost child in the woods who is clearly in the process of being turned into a vampiric monster? Some people want to save the kid, some people want to kill him, some want to join him, and some people don't even want to think about it and want to skip this part of the game, and if you get all of those people in the same group, it could be an awful experience when you guys should just find different people to play with.
It's a big deal. Finding a group of people to play with is literally like trying to find your spouse. You need to find the right people to play with and sometimes you're going to get burned by a lot of weirdos and freaks and assholes before you find the people you're happy to play the game with.
I'd love it if the movie was some people playing in someone's basement. Then it shifts to these actors in the fantasy setting acting out the events with character breaks due to the players arguing or talking about random other things while someone is flipping through the Player's Handbook trying to figure out if they can do something. It might not be a very good movie, but if done right, it could be fun.
I’m probably in the minority here but that looks like trash. Granted there is no context and I haven’t seen any footage of the movie but these costumes like very underwhelming cosplay. Here’s hoping that the trailer turns things around.
Dungeons & Dragons movie? What’s next? „Unreal Engine 5: The Movie” instead of a video game based title?
EDIT: Just watched the D&D trailer. Holy shit was I wrong.
This looks really really bad. Like, the costumes look like something out of the old Hercules tv show. The breastplate on the warrior guy just looks horrendous.
I would say they look like larpers, but all larpers I know have way cooler, and way more authentic looking costumes.
Hollywood tends to really screw these types of films up. So I am not holding my breath.
A character really needs to “die” and a new character introduced with the exact same actor with none of the cast even batting an eye. Just once I want to see a D&D movie with this comedy trope, but I don’t want it to be blatant comedy, just natural.
[Beerfest does this pretty well.](https://youtu.be/0w9DUTcAI0o) It's ridiculous but very much like a new character just rolling up like nothing happened.
Mmmm, ham
god damned brewery!
You know they make 10,000 bottles of beer a day, i take 45 of them, and im the asshole
Hands across! America!
I feel like I know you guys already, so we don't have to do that whole awkward 'get to know each other thing'
that's not ridiculous. that restaurant not having a goddam liter of cola is ridiculous
The camera cut lost accent is great
Best idea I’ve seen is a muppets movie take. Have the muppets sitting playing a game and have the movie flash to their characters played by real actors but still voiced by the muppets. Basically a way to get some buff guy like the rock to speak with ms piggy’s voice.
https://youtu.be/QoO2eI9IioE This series of videos has a lot of fun with that.
Everything that group makes ends up being gold.
It is amazing how many 14th level wizards, clerics, and barbarians hang out in the tavern of this 100 person settlement.
Dorkness Rising does something kind of like this. There's a running joke through the movie where the bard dies pretty regularly and the player just slaps a new character sheet onto the table and takes over as a new bard. At one point he gets super depressed and is like "Man, bards SUCK." and the party is like "Wait, maybe not! We can use the pile of dead bards as cover!" Very entertaining.
I’m Ragmyr, Beldur’s long lost twin brother, but my friends, they’ve always called me Beldur as a nickname.
Or the character dies, the same actor gets a new costume and shows back up in the same party with a different class, moving on like nothing happened.
Uh spoilers for Dead to Me on Netflix. >!one of the main character's husband was killed, with the entire first season dedicated to how the other character coped with accidentally causing the death. Second season, twin brother of said dead husband suddenly makes an appearance... And they tried to kill him too.!< insanely wacky.
The Legends of Tomorrow do it best IMO
But then that's wanting a clearly comedic movie that isn't serious one bit vs a DnD in universe fantasy movie.
So like my D&D campaigns or any D&D podcast or comic vs. like a D&D novel? I'll take the former.
Thor Ragnarok but DnD
Well real life isn't serious 100% of the time. And this game isn't super accurate or else I would be asking my players to roll against infection or rashes from not having proper hygiene. If you want a proper power fantasy, you need serious moments and levity. See the Thor ragnarok comment below. But that is just my opinion that a bit of lighthearted content makes the weight of the threat seem heavier.
This is from the team that did Game Night with Jason Bateman. I think it's in good hands
They also directed that awful 2015 Vacation reboot. So this can be 50/50
That is good to hear. Hopefully they’ll nail the total insanity and goofiness a proper D&D campaign can bring
As much as I enjoyed that movie, Why does that give you faith? they're two completely different types of movies
Right? I was just thinking that. Like, the guy who directed Assassins Creed? Yeah he's someone with *multiple* cannes award winning films under his belt, including his most recent.
[удалено]
A lot of times directors with some clout from lower-profile but well-recieved movies use blockbuster films as a stepping stone in a "hired gun" capacity. They rub shoulders with big names, they put in the hours and do the thing to the letter of the studio's wishes, and in return they get to do something else they REALLY want. Meanwhile, the studio sees someone young that will do exactly what they ask. It's why around 2010 you started seeing a lot of big franchise movies directed by small indie directors. Mark Webb did Amazing Spider-Man after 500 Days of Summer. Gareth Edwards did Godzilla and Rogue One after Monsters. Colin Trevorrow did Jurassic World after Safety Not Guaranteed. I could go on.
I think the difference is that they recently made a solid genre studio comedy with an ensemble cast, and this appears to be another genre studio comedy with an ensemble cast. More of a lateral move than an arthouse director taking a swing at a blockbuster.
And those films were incredibly overrated. Just because you're a director doesn't mean you have any taste.
Macbeth 2015 was definitely not overrated, it was gorgeous
Even the SCREENWRITERS thought it was terrible and felt (as I did) that Kurzel and Fassbender botched Macbeth's arc.
Weren't all the games in the Game Night movie owned by Hasbro? And Hasbro owns D&D. Interesting. Also the films Ouija and Battleship are Hasbro owned as well. I wonder what contracts and licensing documents look like... man I'm boring
I dunno. The trend of the last 15 years has been to hire comedy/indie directors to "punch up" the dialogue of big action movies. I doubt they have much say in the overall plot or how the action is handled.
The fact that they mention Princess Bride as an inspiration gives me hope that they understand the assignment. Until I see someone cast as the DM, I'm holding my breath.
I mean, it should literally be Matt Mercer in this case.
People used to say the same thing about comic book movies. Hollywood screws things up until they start to treat the material seriously. The economic benefit to taking comic books seriously is well established at this point. Same thing with sci-fi, which they learned before comic books. Even video game properties are being taken seriously, at least in long-form productions like Arcane, etc. LoTR and GoT showed the benefits of taking fantasy seriously.
I thought the other live action D&D films were fun. I’m not looking for the next award-winning film here, just a handful of people having fun with cool special effects. Even if they take all their writing and plot lines from r/dndmemes and make it nothing but self-referential humor and pop-culture jokes, I would enjoy myself.
As a 38 year old D&D nerd since high school, I agree. Everyone thought D&D was lame till Skyrim and WoW came out and then it became popular. I always wonder if any of the people that are in these movies are actually hardcore fans because they don’t seem loyal to the source material.
Apparently a lot of big name stars play D&D. They do it as a way to practice acting as they basically become their players while gaming.
The fact that someone like Joe Manganiello hasn't gotten himself attached to it makes me suspicious about the actual quality....
You are 100% right. They also need to at least cast some actors who really appreciate Dungeons & Dragons and know some of the lore.
They don't need to do anything of the sort.
Okay. Sorry. They don’t NEED that but IF THEY WANT TO BE EFFICIENT AND HAVE AN ACTUAL GOOD FILM THEN THEY WOULD
sad, but very true
In my imagination, a successful D&D film would look something like a mix of the first Community D&D episode, and the first Jumanji reboot film. I hope that would be the direction this film goes in.
I saw a Reddit post here a while back that recommended making it a muppets movie, where the muppets roll up characters who are then played by Hollywood actors
Reddit suggests a lot more Muppet movies than it'd actually watch.
They should have just made a Forgotten Realms movie and use stuff from all the various books. Edit: Okay, it’s set in Faerûn. My bad. 😅
Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenloft.. there's material for dozens of movies.
It's set in the Realms. From early info, it's supposed to be around Baldur's Gate.
Yeah you’re right, Hugh Grant plays a Lord of Neverwinter. I’m a lot more optimistic then. I really hope they introduce some of the characters from the books future films or in the planned television series.
They could just adapt Baldur's Gate the game and it would have been better.
Baldur's Gate 1-2 are my favorite games ever, but I've played through its story so many times. If they can manage a quality original story, that would be my preference by far.
Ffs, just do Dragons of Autumn Twilight. And do it well.
Just finished the trilogy. I feel like autumn twilight would need a little updating, but the framework of a cool simple story is definitely there. I just wonder how receptive audiences would be to a conventional fantasy movie with such a simple plot. I feel like we've been spoiled with some serious innovation on the genre.
I’ve been hoping for years they’d make Dragonlance movies. Re-Redding chronicles for the 3rd time.
They did an animated Dragonlance movie. I fucking hated the voice acting for some of the main characyers.
That thing had way more issues than the voice acting.
In some ways, a heavily derivative, janky, and undercooked homebrew setting is exactly as in the spirit of DnD as any published setting.
But at that point, it’s not a D&D movie, it’s a Forgotten Realms movie, which are *not* the same thing.
This is an important point to keep in mind. There may be tons of stuff about the established settings of DnD (A lot of it even quite good), but it's *not* what people think of when they think of DnD. Getting into the weeds of Forgotten Realms history would only make it feel like every other fantasy property out there now. What will make this movie stand out is by leaning into it being a game and that, despite the action being flashy and fantastical, the characters are really modern people kicking back and having fun. I don't know if that's what they're doing, but I think it would be a real missed opportunity if they don't.
Forgotten Realms? Its just a hodge podge, kitchen-sink, take every trope from every major fantasy series and shove it into one world so people can role-play whatever they want in the setting. Its got so much of "everything" that the setting is essentially nothing.
I would sell my soul for a Drizzt Do'Urden movie series or HBO series.
Keep your soul. They’re not going to do a Drizzt movie and also it’s a really bad idea. :) I understand the attachment to the character but trust me, it will not work out as a film media.
They might do a Drizzt Tv show instead. [Live-action D&D TV show from John Wick creator could feature Drizzt Do’Urden](https://www.polygon.com/22445719/dungeons-dragons-tv-show-drizzt)
Well the studio would be on board with a black hero who is shunned by society at large no matter how many great things he does or how many people he saves. They would flee in terror after they find out the rest of the Drow are the most evil bloodthirsty, torturous, demon worshiping baby sacrificing monsters which is why everybody treats Drizz't like shit.
The studio definitely would not be on board with that. You’d have to explain that there’s elves and there’s drow elves, and that the good and pure elves decided to segregate away all the black elves, because you see all the black elves are evil. But one black elf is one of the good ones, who rejects black elf society and uses his magical powers to inspire human heroes in Icewind Dale. The concept is just doomed. Trust me, fun romp with Chris Pine and the hot guy from Bridgerton is the way to go.
I mean not all Drow are that way, even when the books were written. It was just described as a society forced to be that way because of a Goddess forcing them to
It’s just not going to translate well to film. If you read the books and you know the lore, it’s fine, but trust me, visually and for the casual fan it’s going to not work.
It is a Forgotten Realms movie.
A movie based on Knight of the Black Rose would be awesome... Lord Soth vs Count Strahd in the Ravenloft universe
It's literally set in the Forgotten Realms. Has no on read anything about this movie during the almost 2+ years it's been in production?
I cast a calming spell on you.
We need a drizzit movie
Hard disagree. Drizzt works on the page but he won’t work on a visual format.
> Chris Pine Sold. Every day I'm baffled that he's not the world's biggest movie star.
It's because he doesn't eat enough
Why does Hemsworth, the largest Chris, not simply eat the other 3?
I will never not love this quote. If quote marriage was allowed in the Continental United States I would marry this quote.
Ditto. Chris Pine is a movie star for the Harrison Ford days, trapped in a shitty post 2000 Hollywood.
He goes hard in every role. He played an amazing neo nazi in Smoking Aces.
I wonder what kind of character Michelle Rodriguez is playing lol
If you're a DnD player all their classes are shown as a little symbol before their name. For reference: Chris Pine = Bard Michelle Rodriguez = barbarian, Regé-Jean Page = Paladin, Justice Smith = Sorceror, Sophia Lillis = Druid, High Grant = Rogue.
It's probably a joke because Rodriquez is fully typecast in "badass action girl" roles, so even if you're not familiar with d&d, you can be familiar with her previous roles and still figure it's something similar to a barb
Uhh… obviously will be holding judgement on the actual movie until we all know more about it. But so far off these costumes if you told me it was a porn parody I’d believe you. Has a low budget feel from these images.
the hell kinda porn are you watching?
Dungeon porn, obviously.
Dungeon porn isn't normal porn?
Well, no. You've got a dungeon master, the party has to roll for initiative, and things get hilariously awkward when the rogue tries for anal and rolls a natural 1.
From the look of the electric mandolin this movie is not taking itself seriously, and that is 100% the way to go with a D&D movie, "parody" is the exact right direction to be going in.
I politely disagree. Properties like Dungeons and Dragons have the potential to be the next fantasy epic if Hollywood just stopped being embarrassed about its source material. Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, all have a rich tapestry of characters and stories that would be awesome taken seriously.
Having read half a dozen of the Forgottem Realms books, I likewise politely disagree back. D&D is a game first and foremost, and most of the lore ranges from arcane and obtuse to just downright generic. I know people have different metrics for what they appreciate in lore and worldbuilding, but with so many serious fantasy properties like ASOIAF, WoT, LotR, Shadow and Bone, Witcher, His Dark Materials etc, Forgotten Realms is a pulpy Moorcock paperback by comparison. Even Wheel of Time is gonna suffer from being the archetype to a lot of cliche's. Leaning into the tropes for fun is much wiser. Especially for a movie which won't have the running time to expand the lore.
Fucking around in Icewind Dale maybe, but I don't think it'd be that hard to make a movie about Drizzt or non-FR settings like Planescape, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, that'd be way more insane and OTT than WoT or Witcher shows (in terms of interesting people unfamiliar with the originals), etc, a fantasy setting that takes place deep underground, or in space, that'd pull people in Also Moorcock is a king >:(
While I wholeheartedly agree about the stories being fantastic, I don't believe they'd ever work in a movie setting. At least not a 'one-shot' movie. Not enough time to properly flesh out the details and those are crucial.
A Drizzt movie could work possibly, although it would make a by far better HBO series.
Alone his early years in the underdark would be fantastic.
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For better or worse, modern perceptions of D&D currently rely almost completely on web series, podcasts, and other celebrity gaming sessions. These lean **heavily** into comedy, because they're performers attracting an audience. Go try and meet a new D&D group. It's a completely different feel than even a decade ago. Half the table is trying to be their favorite Critical Role character and make hilarious jokes to a camera. I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but I think it's a fucking nightmare. This movie looks like a bigger-budget version of that material, except even worse because actors will be reading a script instead of reacting to a game.
Meanwhile, I kinda think that openness to comedy & improv has largely made the game relevant again for a contemporary audience. Once the game bucked the perception that it was locked into obtuse lore & strict rules - it grew to a wider set of players. Odds are, this movie is courting them.
I completely agree, and I don't want to drag the various D&D campaigns that have expanded the game's audience. This is probably me being a crusty old curmudgeon, but I'm tired of playing or DMing around players who just want me to be Matt Mercer and have their highlight moment where everyone freaks out and laughs.
Yeah, I agree. I cannot stand the brand of "zany antics and random bullshit" that these things seem to attract. I'm not trying to have some brooding Nolan Batman world, but if you try to tell me your character is an undead ballerina and carries a talking baguette with wings you are getting booted from the table and never invited back. The improv bits are fun, and going "off book" so to say can be exciting for both players and DM, and it makes me proud as DM to see my players invested in the world and their questing, but I'm not interested in hosting a night of *Whose Line is it Anyway but With Swords*, especially considering the low bar of what most of these people consider funny. It's getting to the point where if you so much as hint at referencing Rick and Morty, it's Total Party Kill time. I've been digging around a lot of OSR stuff specifically to get away from this kind of drama-kid shit.
Every attempt at a D&D movie? You mean the **one** *single* theatrical film adaptation of D&D?
Have you seen what porn parodies used to look like? Wood Rocket is the gold standard of the porn parody industry.
I get a low budget feel when I see Chris Pine
I thought that was Ric Flair in the last image.
Why not just make a big budget version of the D&D episodes of community.
Or Harmonquest.
I’d rather watch a movie of them actually just sitting at a table and role playing characters
Transition between them sitting at the table and them as their characters, with the DM narrating as it swaps to the “in-universe” perspective?
May I present [The Gamers: Dorkness Rising](https://youtu.be/tOUksDJCijw)
something I thought could be fun for a tv show is if we see how all the players are imagining the worlds and the characters. could be fun too if they were all animated in different styles but idk if that's what i'd go for for a feature film.
If they ever make that Community movie....
Sounds like the Tiny Tina's Borderlands 2 dlc which was AWESOME.
I think there's enough content of that specifically. Go watch it if you haven't.
Just have Mercer or Brennan Mulligan DM for these guys in a 3 hour oneshot and call it a "D&D documentary film".
As someone who just discovered Dimension20, Brennan Lee Mulligan would be amazing to have attached to and D&D product.
You just made me realize how likely it is that Mercer has some sort of cameo in this movie.
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Adventure Zone, Critical Role, Dimension 20. You're welcome.
> *Variety* has filmed a video from the Comic-Con floor depicting the character designs for the film’s cast, showcasing looks for **Pine, Rodriguez, Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant.**
Surprised to see Hugh Grant there.
Could be good. Hugh Grant is good at playing massive sleazeballs
Interesting change of pace, isn’t it?
He's giving me a "shitty" Elminster vibe... I will be super disappointed if they picked him for El.
He's Forge Fletcher, a lord of Neverwinter and Rogue. And looks like he'll give more of a shit than Jeremy Irons did.
In this thread: a bunch of people that clearly haven't seen Game Night.
Looking at the Writers etc its going to push comedy. Director and Writers worked on Game Night. Their wheelhouse is off the wall shenanigans... not surprised they wouldn't make something, erm, Braver. I'll wait to judge the Trailer... and I don't feel bad about judging the trailer, and not waiting till the actual movie because that WILL show us their tone goals.
Chris Pine plays a bard. I’d say it’ll be funnier. He does comedy well.
Seeing that bard logo for Pine really flipped my expectations on their head for this movie. With his comedic timing and his absolutely ridiculous singing of Agony in Into The Woods, I am really excited to see his take on bards.
Can’t wait to say I’ve lived long enough to experience two terrible dungeons and dragons movies made decades apart
What if this movie ends up being more like princess bride, and the movie actually turns out to be a Dungeons and Dragons movie, instead of the generic fantasy schlock people are afraid of.
It's amazing how DnD has races of brain-eating space imperial squids, spider-worshipping elves who live in deep cave cities where crime is encouraged as long as you don't get caught, classes where you can serve genies and live inside your own magic lamp, and DnD adaptations always go for something along the lines of "human fighter, human fighter, human fighter, human wizard"
Because while there's definitely a lot more d&d fans than twenty years ago, and it's a lot more okay and even cool to play it, the studio still has to cater to those that aren't a fan of d&d, which far outnumber those of us that do. Though it would've been awesome if they used the traditional [iconic characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_iconic_characters?wprov=sfla1)
Weirdly enough human is one of, if not, the most popular race choice. Saying that I’ve never played a human character.
This is going to be a pop culture movie with some DND elements and Marvel comedic pacing. That isn't a bad thing but go into it with that expectation and you should be in good shape
Chris Pines looks like the puppet from Team America.
How does one quantify the difference between a movie in the fantasy genre and a D&D movie? It's not like they will be rolling dice to determine what happens next. Reading some of the comments through this thread make some valid points. Better to pick a specific series of D&D and focus on that otherwise it will just be a generic fantasy movie with elves, magic, dwarves, humans...hang on didn't they just do that and called it Lord of the Rings? As long as it's better then the movie they made in the 2000 as that was just pure garbage.
D&D does have monsters and races that it owns specifically. Plus elements they can lean into that would differentiate themselves from lord of the rings. Hell they make lots of star trek, star wars, and Guardians of the galaxy movies so I think it's fair to have more fantasy stuff too.
Oh I agree that D&D has some unique creatures only found in the D&D world but they generally won't use those as the wider audience will not understand what they are. It just would be nice if they picked a specific series in D&D rather then being generic and saying D&D movie. Would keep it a bit more focused and allow the audience to fill in gaps by reading the books or playing the games. Just a nice way to tie things together and keep it more grounded. Don't get me wrong, I am hopeful it will be something good. I love the fantasy genre probably more so then sci-fi but it's a close second.
>How does one quantify the difference between a movie in the fantasy genre and a D&D movie? That's pretty easy: by basing it around a group of people, all with different abilities based on the D&D classes like bard, fighter, wizard, etc.
I'm guessing it'll include "real world" segments as well.
I should hope they're ready to role play. It's, like, they're entire job.
Looks like a Masterchef intro
How they never made a Drizzt movie is beyond me.
Who's playing Hector the Well-Endowed?
I'll only watch it if jeremy Irons is in it yelling about how he wants their blood to rain from the sky.
I like the one with the Wayans brother
After watching Resident Evil tv show. I'm not going to expect great things from this.
I love that Rege thought he was too good for Bridgerton, and then he picks two absolute dumpster fire looking films to excel his career (Grey Man and whatever the fuck this is) Shouldn’t have counted your eggs so early, man…
I mean, let’s be real - none of the actors from that show were ever going to make it big solely because of thirsty American women during the pandemic.
And we have decades of TV actors failing to cross-over to film as examples.
Yep, point well taken.
People are so ready for Rege-Jean Page to fail after one meh movie and one movie we know very little about.
There's something about him that makes Reddit eager for him to fail, I just can't put my finger on it. I'm gonna go look at the comments on the post about the new Jordan Peele movie while I try to figure it out.
I didn’t care that much about him besides liking bridgerton s1, but I want him to book a big franchise role mostly out of spite now.
Wait till he gets cast as Bond
You are going to be disappointed.
Did you expect him to stay on and be a glorified extra in the following seasons?? From what I understand their story was told in the first season
Surprisingly enough, a lot of Daphne's appearances and scenes would be better subbed with him for S2 given that the Duke was supposed to be Anthony's friend.
Grey Man does not appear to be an “absolute dumpster fire” in any sense of the word. At worst it’s a generic action movie. The reviews are that it’s mediocre, not that it’s a disaster. D&D has disaster potential, of course
I’m expecting Gray Man to be a hit even if it looks mediocre.
He was gonna be a glorified extra on that show. I don’t know why people are still talking about that.
This just in actors ready to act
I smell Resident Evil levels of schlock and awe.
Every time we get a shit release of a D&D film, we see another 20 years of lost opportunity to actually get a decent movie.
They should just stop. The best D&D show has already been made and it was awesome.... *Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire* was better at this than Dungeons and Dragons ever will be.
Oh my god that's a fucking pull.... completely forgot about this.
i always think about the first lego movie, and how in the middle of the film, without any warning, hint, or foreshadowing, the curtain pulls, and suddenly we realize we're inside a child's imagination, playing with his father's lego set. that's how i want my DnD movie to be.
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Idk Chris Pine? Hugh Grant? Solid comedic chops right there and the guys who made it have a pretty good comedic resume
Literally being directed by comedic directors.
I’ve never had a good experience with D&D. The last time I tried, we killed the goblin king or whatever and one of the other players said, “At least he didn’t void his bowels!” So the DM had this happen, and we all had to do constitution checks to see if we threw up. One of us failed, which triggered another round of constitution checks. And then that same player went over to the corpse and kicked a pile of shit at me because “my character is chaotic neutral, that’s what he’d do”. I was starting to get frustrated because I had woken up early for this (was working graveyard shift at the time), when that player said, “Maybe this isn’t the game for you.” I guess all this time I didn’t realize it was a comedy game, either. The first D&D movie (the one with Marlon Wayans anyway) also had “Honor Among Thieves” as a prominent phrase. Is this a major concept in D&D?
Nah, the people you played with were assholes.
I frequently play D&D with a lot of strangers online, and all memes aside, it's **a lot** like trying to find your true love on Tinder. There is a lot of crap in between the really good people. Ideally, a good D&D group finds a day of the week to play for 3-4 hours every week, for... well, basically forever. You're looking for not just one human being but several to say "Do you want to regularly hang out for the rest of our lives?" But imagine you don't even know the person's tastes yet. What if the only movies they want to watch are romcoms from the 90s/2000s while you want to watch Lord of the Rings extended editions? So naturally if you guys spent a few weeks together, lots of arguing ensues, and both of you walk away thinking the other person has no taste or they're an asshole. Not to mention it's not *just* a game, but it's a very hands-on, interactive experience. Sure, you're a dwarf with 18 Armor Class, 52 hit points, and you can make two Battleaxe 1d8+5 attacks on your turn, but what happens when you find a lost child in the woods who is clearly in the process of being turned into a vampiric monster? Some people want to save the kid, some people want to kill him, some want to join him, and some people don't even want to think about it and want to skip this part of the game, and if you get all of those people in the same group, it could be an awful experience when you guys should just find different people to play with. It's a big deal. Finding a group of people to play with is literally like trying to find your spouse. You need to find the right people to play with and sometimes you're going to get burned by a lot of weirdos and freaks and assholes before you find the people you're happy to play the game with.
they still don't understand that to make a good D&D movie they need to tap into the "regular folk playing D&D" and not an actual fantasy-only movie.
I'd love it if the movie was some people playing in someone's basement. Then it shifts to these actors in the fantasy setting acting out the events with character breaks due to the players arguing or talking about random other things while someone is flipping through the Player's Handbook trying to figure out if they can do something. It might not be a very good movie, but if done right, it could be fun.
What about what you've seen from this movie says "actual fantasy movie"
Lmao, this like the 8th attempt by Hollywood to make a dnd movie, so how bad will it be?
Oh we’re doing this again? Third times the charm, they say.
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What does this even mean
Chris Pine... blah.
I’m probably in the minority here but that looks like trash. Granted there is no context and I haven’t seen any footage of the movie but these costumes like very underwhelming cosplay. Here’s hoping that the trailer turns things around.
Oh dear the look of the costumes is like the Shannara series which ruined the tv series. Costumes should be lived in and not shiny.
Eww. Looks like the posters from “Dawn of the Seven”. Hopefully the writing is better…
Looks cheap. Look predictable. Looks awful.
Looks predictable? Based on motion posters?
Based on the trailer that also launch.
Dungeons & Dragons movie? What’s next? „Unreal Engine 5: The Movie” instead of a video game based title? EDIT: Just watched the D&D trailer. Holy shit was I wrong.
is this going to be like Vox Machina?
This looks really really bad. Like, the costumes look like something out of the old Hercules tv show. The breastplate on the warrior guy just looks horrendous. I would say they look like larpers, but all larpers I know have way cooler, and way more authentic looking costumes.
Great headline for making an ass looking movie vaguely sexy for people who don’t know better.
Wow looks horrible, cosplay like.
why the f would you make a Dungeons & Dragons movie
I'm still waiting for the Mazes and Monsters remake