Caffeinated Clint
The legal clash over who owns the “Dungeons & Dragons” movie franchise is over.
After a 6-day battle in court Warner Bros walks away the victor, consequently announcing plans to bring the fantasy brand back to the big screen with a new film produced by industry vet Roy Lee (“The Grudge”).
“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,” said Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros. Pictures. “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.”
The Hollywood Reporter has the lowdown on the legal skirmish that led to the moment :
Four years ago, Warner Bros. Pictures rolled the dice by commissioning a screenplay based on the fantasy game first published in 1974. This was a particular risk because the studio didn’t have rights lined up. When Johnson delivered Chainmail, based on board game from D&D designer Gary Gygax, Warners began investigating the possibility of acquiring rights from Hasbro.
Warners offered $5 million to purchase rights and 5 percent gross, but Hasbro made a deal with Universal Pictures instead.
This didn’t end the matter, however, because Warners was quite enthusiastic about Johnson’s script and D&D rights turned out to be complicated.
In 1994, Courtney Solomon’s Sweetpea optioned D&D from a Hasbro subsidiary for a mere $15,000 and eventually produced a film released in 2000 that was both a commercial and critical flop.
The deal between Sweetpea and Hasbro — actually an amendment to the contract to resolve prior litigation — gave Sweetpea sequel rights so long as it produced one in a timely fashion. And so, two more D&D films came out. The first, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God, premiered on the SyFy Channel in 2005 and the second, Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness, aired on the SyFy Channel in 2012.
After Universal beat Warner Bros. to a deal with Hasbro for a new film, Warners began investigating the possibility of getting rights through Sweetpea.
Hasbro contended that Sweetpea’s rights had reverted, and that its films didn’t constitute proper sequels. The issue was brought to trial last September in a proxy war of sorts between two big studios. Warners invested $5 million acquiring Sweetpea rights and covering legal costs. In October, the parties delivered post-trial arguments in October.
Since then, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee has held back on issuing a ruling. Instead, she has urged the two sides to settle.
On Monday, after months of negotiation, the parties were finally able to reveal they had come to an undisclosed arrangement to end the lawsuit, but one that will give Warner Bros. confidence in moving forward with its film. It’s unclear whether Universal has signed off on this deal.
The new “Dungeons & Dragons” movie will be written by David Leslie Johnson (”Wrath of the Titans”).
