A lawsuit brought on by Hasbro, which claimed that Sweatpea Entertainment no longer had the rights to Dungeons & Dragons, has been settled, which has opened the gates for Hasbro, Sweetpea, and Warner Bros. to produce a new D&D film.
WB president Greg Silverman had this to say about the new Dungeons & Dragons:
“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,. This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property.”
There is no director attached yet, but they have a script written by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans). This isn’t the first time D&D has been brought to the big screen. 2000 gave us a really awful Dungeons & Dragons film with horrendous CGI, and a cast that included Marlon Wayans, Jeremy Irons, and Thora Birch (yep, that was the actual cast), which was followed up by a bunch of even worse SyFy Channel movies. Previous to that was an oddly conceived Saturday morning cartoon in 1983.
Since the success of The Lord of the Rings franchise, every studio is trying to find the next big fantasy film. But while D&D is chock-a-block full of fantasy elements, the story is very specific to the individual games, so creating one cohesive story that will satisfy everyone will be a bit of a challenge (as previous attempts have proven). So good luck, Warner Bros, you’ve got your work cut out for you.