1st Border Red Devil Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Based on the phenomenally successful role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons 2 takes you deeper into the dark and fantastical world of this fantasy epic. When the evil sorcerer Damodar braves a perilous whirlwind vortex to steal the elemental black orb he declares a sinister plan of vengeance against the kingdom of Ismir. Berek, a decorated warrior, and Melora, an amateur sorceress join four heroes representing Intelligence, Wisdom, Honor and Strength to battle against Damodar's growing army of gruesome creatures, flying harpies and an ice dragon to reach a vault room holding the orb. Together, they build their own army to retrieve the orb using elemental forces to defeat Damodar before he summons the sleeping black dragon whose omnipotent evil powers could lay waste to the entire kingdom. Well...this sure sounds like a winner of a plot. I wonder if the script writer has even read a D&D book. ::sigh:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSW Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Jeesh why not call it: D & D 2: ditto I still wonder how such an self proclaimed obssesive D&D fan was able to make that first flick...prolly involved hummers, lots and lots of hummers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabretooth Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 probably the most action rpgs has ever gotten... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfx Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 (edited) ....representing Intelligence, Wisdom, Honor and Strength ... Sounds like something a mahou-shoujo (magical girl) would say after her semi-naked transformation scene. Edited March 10, 2005 by wolfx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowlightman Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Was the first D&D movie even that successful enough to warrant a sequel? Color me surprised. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay has a much better world setting for a movie compared to the D&D settings, but.. eh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skull Leader Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Besides the fact that the D&D realm is entirely a subjective thing (it is what you make it, more than anything else), I don't see how any one movie could be representitive of it... the first one was a total fumble. Now if they did a movie about the Heroes of the Lance or whatnot, THAT would be different... (you all know you want to see Caramon haul flint onto the boat at Crystalmir lake completely against his will! Seeing a well-acted Raistlin on screen would be totally badass also) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechamaniac Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Was the first D&D movie even that successful enough to warrant a sequel? Color me surprised. Exactly... Some friends of mine dragged me to see that, and it was probably one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Effect Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 ....representing Intelligence, Wisdom, Honor and Strength ... Sounds like something a mahou-shoujo (magical girl) would say after her semi-naked transformation scene. I was thinking someone was getting DnD confused with the virtues from the Ultima series. Still, the first film was bad enough, why make a second one? Still if they wanted to try again, why make a direct connection with the first film instead of trying with clear start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanata67 Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 there was a first d&d movie???? I remember the cartoon... but no movie... reign of fire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr March Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 There is no way in hell I'm going to pay to see this movie. I refuse! I don't care if all my friends are going out on the same night and we haven't seen each other for a month and there's some hot chick that they want to set me up with again...I will not go sam-I-am! Jeremy Irons, my gawd man what were you thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lt.actionjackson Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 What a great idea! Make another crap sequel of a crap movie license! Way to go Hollywood! I've found yet another reason to keep my money in my pocket. Oh well, more money for my yamato addiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st Border Red Devil Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Hell, they would have been better to simply adapt one of the myriad of adventure modules from Classic D&D (or even AD&D 1st Edition) and build a story around that. At least something with a modicum of internal logic from the game. Anyway, even more wonderful news. Posted in the FRAGRPGA Yahoo Group: Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance. Ynet News: Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anubis Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I thought the first one did bad enough to preclude any chance of a sequel. That was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Friend of mone made me watch it to see how bad it was and make fun of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 there was a first d&d movie????I remember the cartoon... but no movie... reign of fire? Not Reign of Fire. There really was a movie called Dungeons & Dragons. And yes, it was as bad as everyone else is saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JELEINEN Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Was the first D&D movie even that successful enough to warrant a sequel? Color me surprised.Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay has a much better world setting for a movie compared to the D&D settings, but.. eh. From what I've heard, it bombed in the US, but did well overseas and in DVD sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st Border Red Devil Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 A couple of years ago, a buddy of mine got to a Con and managed to talk with one of the people from the movie. According to the actor, there is about 45 minutes of missing footage....incidentally the portion with that little thing called a plot....and that fans should have demanded either a recut or a director's cut. It almost sounded like a Cannon Film... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 The first D&D movie barely turned $15 mil at the domestic box office (source: the-numbers) and the subsequent DVD release tanked like it's theater release. No hard figures have been found for actual budget but you can just venture even an uneducated guess that the movie lost massive money. I blame LOTR. Not so much LOTR but the "fantasy" fallout it has generated. Stupid producers and hollywood shirts see LOTR as "the viewers want more dragons and elfs and such" so they assume any old license will work, purchase it (or in this case dust it off and clean off the poo flug at it) and hurry it into production. This movie will flop and flop hard, most likely worse than the first one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfx Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 (edited) Oh...THAT dungeon and dragons.....i completely wiped it off my mind! I believe there was a 1980's D&D as well but it was a teen thriller flick. I was a kid and i don't remmeber much. Then of course there's the cartoon where these buncha kids get sucked into a D&D theme park ride and find themselves in a fantasy land. edit: remembered more about that 1980's d&d. The teens gathered to play a game of D&D and then game becomes reality as each of them start getting killed..... ok maybe i dreamt this up cause i can't find any info about it on the web Edited March 10, 2005 by wolfx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 See, I didn't even like the LOTOR movies. Fantasy and the silver screen just don't mix for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st Border Red Devil Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 (edited) edit: remembered more about that 1980's d&d. The teens gathered to play a game of D&D and then game becomes reality as each of them start getting killed.....ok maybe i dreamt this up cause i can't find any info about it on the web It was called 'Mazes and Monsters' and starred Tom Hanks as the troubled teen who takes the game too serious. Here is a link to the ONLY website dedicated to M&M. Mazes and Monsters Edited March 10, 2005 by 1st Border Red Devil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSW Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 The first D&D movie barely turned $15 mil at the domestic box office (source: the-numbers) and the subsequent DVD release tanked like it's theater release. No hard figures have been found for actual budget but you can just venture even an uneducated guess that the movie lost massive money.I blame LOTR. Not so much LOTR but the "fantasy" fallout it has generated. Stupid producers and hollywood shirts see LOTR as "the viewers want more dragons and elfs and such" so they assume any old license will work, purchase it (or in this case dust it off and clean off the poo flug at it) and hurry it into production. This movie will flop and flop hard, most likely worse than the first one. I vaugely recall it mentioned that the D&D film budget was around $23 million...which is quite low for Hollywood in this day and age... It also came out before LOTR, and was prolly partialy green lighted because Dimension publicly invested so much in Peter Jacksons LOTR films...So the D&D film may have been seen as a quick, dirty, exploitive, and cheap "test balloon" to gauge audiance reaction and cash in on the bulgeing LOTR hype...So I wouldn't be suprised, when it is all added up, that the D&D film made back its money... Still, I would MUCH rather see a Shadowrun flick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I did some quick searching on some industry sites and all signs point to the first having a production budget of $36 mil +. Add a very small prints and media advert budget of $10 mil + to that and the bankroll of the first movie is easily close to $50 mil. The movie hardly did $15 at the box office. $35 mil loss out of the gate. DVD rental sales and product sales on poor movies usually only recoup about equal to the box office release. Estimate another $15 mil from DVD rental and sales and the movie is still almost $20 mil in the hole. Very poor performance, even for a non-mainliner off season release. This movie did not warrant a sequel as it lost money, big time. It was a prime example of a "gamble picture" that gambled and lost. The studios made money on other projects so it's loss was offset. At the time the only close competition was Reign of Fire. I would go as far as to suppose the two where tabled around the same time and one or the other got the greenlight based on the other, you know how hollywood loves to "stable" their films based on what the buzz their competition is doing. MGM picked up a dragon pic? Tony! Get us a dragon pic! I stick my guns that the only reason you are seeing another one is because of the LOTR frenzy. Studio shirts think D&D = middle earth so they assume people will flock to their movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB0 Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 A couple of years ago, a buddy of mine got to a Con and managed to talk with one of the people from the movie. According to the actor, there is about 45 minutes of missing footage....incidentally the portion with that little thing called a plot....and that fans should have demanded either a recut or a director's cut. It almost sounded like a Cannon Film... That explains SO much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB0 Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Was the first D&D movie even that successful enough to warrant a sequel? Color me surprised. Exactly... Some friends of mine dragged me to see that, and it was probably one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. I envy you. The worst movies I've ever seen are so bad that I refuse to name them for fear it might make me remember them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfx Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 edit: remembered more about that 1980's d&d. The teens gathered to play a game of D&D and then game becomes reality as each of them start getting killed.....ok maybe i dreamt this up cause i can't find any info about it on the web It was called 'Mazes and Monsters' and starred Tom Hanks as the troubled teen who takes the game too serious. Here is a link to the ONLY website dedicated to M&M. Mazes and Monsters Thanks mate!! This was it! Now i feel stupid. I remembered the skeleton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSW Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 (edited) I did some quick searching on some industry sites and all signs point to the first having a production budget of $36 mil +. Add a very small prints and media advert budget of $10 mil + to that and the bankroll of the first movie is easily close to $50 mil. The movie hardly did $15 at the box office. $35 mil loss out of the gate. DVD rental sales and product sales on poor movies usually only recoup about equal to the box office release. Estimate another $15 mil from DVD rental and sales and the movie is still almost $20 mil in the hole. Very poor performance, even for a non-mainliner off season release.This movie did not warrant a sequel as it lost money, big time. It was a prime example of a "gamble picture" that gambled and lost. The studios made money on other projects so it's loss was offset. At the time the only close competition was Reign of Fire. I would go as far as to suppose the two where tabled around the same time and one or the other got the greenlight based on the other, you know how hollywood loves to "stable" their films based on what the buzz their competition is doing. MGM picked up a dragon pic? Tony! Get us a dragon pic! I stick my guns that the only reason you are seeing another one is because of the LOTR frenzy. Studio shirts think D&D = middle earth so they assume people will flock to their movie. Um..D&D was a late summer/early fall 2000 release, about a year and some change before the christmas season 2001 LOTR:Fellowship of the Ring release. Reign of Fire was released in 2002, during summer before LOTR:Two Towers was released...Unless they sat Reign of Fire in a vault for some two years, I don't think they were given the green light at the same time. But anyway...back to D&D $36million? Jeesh! where did that all that money go? One thing I've learned is that Hollywood likes to bloat and then gloat over film budgets...They have very creative accountants Take the Blair Witch Project film for example. The directors stated it only cost about as much as a Ford Tarus to make (say $24,000). Mirimax buys up the rights, and suddenly the films budget is often quoted at a cool million...its almost like they do this to diswade competition I don't know, the D&D flick didn't have any "A-List" stars in it...the only "name" actors (thinking Jeremy Irons, Thora Burch) had rather limited screen time (prolly only a week out of thier schedule to shoot thier scenes), IIRC they shot at least part of it in Prauge and maybe on a dozen sets, costumeing could cost a bit, but I don't recall a lot of elaborite stunt work or physical effects, not to mention that there wasn't a whole lot of CG enhanced live action shots (where a creature or something was added later to the shot....IIRC, most of the CG shots seemed to stand alone, meaning no live action elements)...in real dollars, I can't see them haveing spent more then $15 million tops... It was a bad investment anyway...but I'm thinking this sequel is going the "direct to video" route (as in Starship Troopers 2) Edited March 10, 2005 by MSW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Focker Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I believe there was a 1980's D&D as well but it was a teen thriller flick. I remember that I think it was called the Dungeon Master starting Richard Mull aka Bull from Night Court. Came out 1984 (maybe) had to drive to one little theather some where in LA to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Um..D&D was a late summer/early fall 2000 release, about a year and some change before the christmas season 2001 LOTR:Fellowship of the Ring release. Reign of Fire was released in 2002, during summer before LOTR:Two Towers was released...Unless they sat Reign of Fire in a vault for some two years, I don't think they were given the green light at the same time. Things in hollywood don't have to be "greenlighted" at the same time or even in production or release at the same time to have bearing on each other. Remember that scripts flow through the hollywood culture years, sometimes even decades, before they get picked up and made. Some get picked up and then sat on for years or even decades. My point was that Reign of Fire's script was going through a lot of hands years before it was actually made. Chances are the D&D movie was picked up because they wanted RoF... or the other way around. You never know the backroom shenanigans with movie scripts unless the people responsable actually talk about them. Just look at the massive hassle the original Alien script went through in it's road to production. A lot of movies are like that. It's only after the script gets picked up or the story gets optioned does the real boardroom altering begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSW Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Um..D&D was a late summer/early fall 2000 release, about a year and some change before the christmas season 2001 LOTR:Fellowship of the Ring release. Reign of Fire was released in 2002, during summer before LOTR:Two Towers was released...Unless they sat Reign of Fire in a vault for some two years, I don't think they were given the green light at the same time. Things in hollywood don't have to be "greenlighted" at the same time or even in production or release at the same time to have bearing on each other. Remember that scripts flow through the hollywood culture years, sometimes even decades, before they get picked up and made. Some get picked up and then sat on for years or even decades. My point was that Reign of Fire's script was going through a lot of hands years before it was actually made. Chances are the D&D movie was picked up because they wanted RoF... or the other way around. You never know the backroom shenanigans with movie scripts unless the people responsable actually talk about them. Just look at the massive hassle the original Alien script went through in it's road to production. A lot of movies are like that. It's only after the script gets picked up or the story gets optioned does the real boardroom altering begin. Yes, I know...I just think both D&D and Reign of Fire being made had far more to do with the deal Peter Jackson struck wth LOTR then with each other...and that whole deal prolly wouldn't have been made if Dragon Heart had flopped years ago...and Dragon Heart would likely still be sitting around in script form if Jurassic Park, Hercules, and Xena on TV had flopped too. Its not like Roger Corman decided to make Battle Beyond the Stars because Disney opted to make the Black Hole...they both had far bigger coat tales to ride on. When Dimention decided to risk $300mill on Jacksons LOTR, a whole lot of other production houses sat up and took notice..."thats a lot of cash! But if thats where they are putting thier money, maybe we should make a dragon picture too...just in case!". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JELEINEN Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I did some quick searching on some industry sites and all signs point to the first having a production budget of $36 mil +. Add a very small prints and media advert budget of $10 mil + to that and the bankroll of the first movie is easily close to $50 mil. The movie hardly did $15 at the box office. $35 mil loss out of the gate. DVD rental sales and product sales on poor movies usually only recoup about equal to the box office release. Estimate another $15 mil from DVD rental and sales and the movie is still almost $20 mil in the hole. Very poor performance, even for a non-mainliner off season release.This movie did not warrant a sequel as it lost money, big time. It was a prime example of a "gamble picture" that gambled and lost. The studios made money on other projects so it's loss was offset. At the time the only close competition was Reign of Fire. I would go as far as to suppose the two where tabled around the same time and one or the other got the greenlight based on the other, you know how hollywood loves to "stable" their films based on what the buzz their competition is doing. MGM picked up a dragon pic? Tony! Get us a dragon pic! I stick my guns that the only reason you are seeing another one is because of the LOTR frenzy. Studio shirts think D&D = middle earth so they assume people will flock to their movie. Have any figures for what it made in foreign release? I imagine that it could make up that 20 mil. in world-wide distribution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB0 Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 $36million? Jeesh! where did that all that money go? One thing I've learned is that Hollywood likes to bloat and then gloat over film budgets...They have very creative accountants Take the Blair Witch Project film for example. The directors stated it only cost about as much as a Ford Tarus to make (say $24,000). Mirimax buys up the rights, and suddenly the films budget is often quoted at a cool million...its almost like they do this to diswade competition It's simple... $24,000 + utterly massive massive marekting blitz = ONE MILLION dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSW Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 It's simple...$24,000 + utterly massive massive marekting blitz = ONE MILLION dollars. erm, no.. The movie's original budget was a measly $22K, or $30K, or anything up to $65K (depending on which source you believe). Artisan Entertainment, which bought the indie movie after the Sundance Film Festival for $1.2 million, poured another $300K into enhancing the film's shaky production values. Another $15 million went into the ad budget. As of this writing (10/28/99), The Blair Witch Project has grossed $140.3 million in the U.S. alone (this total does not include video sales/rentals) making it, not only one of the biggest hits of 1999, but the most profitable film of all time. A website created to hype the film received more than 650,000 visitors during it’s first week of the official U.S. release making www.blairwitch.com, the 45th most popular site on the Internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bromgrev Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Anyway, even more wonderful news. Posted in the FRAGRPGA Yahoo Group: Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance. Well, hey - the MOD guy in our group used to show us holiday snapshots of his Oman training missions. Still, who's gonna believe a bunch of D&Ders when they go blabbing to the press? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 try to get some DNA out of the semen and prosecute this "Hollywood" character for rape... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.