Get out your 20 sided dice as we have some exciting geek news that will have nerdom cheer. After many failed attempts to get a decent ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ movie on the big screen, Warner Bros has made it a priority to revive the franchise and is fast tracking the process to get it done.
The popular role playing game has had its share of adaptations with an animated television version in 1983 which was then followed by a less than stellar live action version in 2000 that starred Jeremy Irons (‘Beautiful Creatures’, ‘The Borgias’) and Tom Baker (yes, the same Tom Baker who played the 4th Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’). Afterward, a television movie, ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God,’ with Bruce Payne reprising his role as Damodar was aired in 2005 and a direct-to-DVD follow up released in 2012 called ‘Dungeons and Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness.’
None of these adaptations have struck a chord with audiences, but with the success and interest seen lately for ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Hobbit,’ Warner Bros. thinks now is a good time to resurrect this commodity.
The studio is actually further along in the development of a ‘Dungeon and Dragons’ film and is using a script that was written by David Leslie Johnson (‘Wrath of the Titans,’ ‘Orphan,’ ‘The Walking Dead’) called ‘Chainmail’ and based on a game developed by D&D creator Gary Gygax before he and Dave Arneson launched the successful game.
The script will be reworked and “beefed up” in order to create a more grand scale film and hopefully begin a successful franchise. At this point in the game, it’s being reported that Warner Bros. is willing to put in the “necessary resources to create a world around a well-established brand.”
Here’s hoping they can pull it off and give the franchise a movie that it deserves!
What do you think? Is the time right for a ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ reboot?
Source: Deadline
