We here at The Nerduary have been keeping a very loose eye on the developments of a Dragonlance movie for some time now. It's been a very interesting situation.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dragonlance, the fantasy books chronicle the adventures of heroes in a land similar to Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings. All the similar elements were there including wizards, warriors, dragons and elves. If Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien provided most fantasy readers around the world their first experience in fantasy in the 20th Century, I would be willing to say Dragonlance comes in second (unless, of course, we're including Harry Potter, which a little different than these two franchises).
Information regarding the movie based on the works of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (the Dragonlance fantasy books heralded by a critic as "something to read after the Ring books") has been slim to none. With the exception of some very early renditions of principal characteres, all info released on the movie has ranged from "it's an animated feature" to "it will follow the original plot" to "it will be released Autumn 2007." For a movie coming out in a little over six months, according to the calendar as to when Autumn begins, the lack of information has been puzzling at best.
The movie's co-executive producer, Cindi Rice, has mentioned the film is aiming for a theatrical release with the sequels of the story's trilogy on hold to see how the first fares at the box office. Great news, right?
Now, director Will Meugniot changed that with his journal entry on www.dragonlance-movie.com when he wrote:
"Dragonlance production is in full swing and everyone's working hard to make an on time delivery. Even though the DVD won't go on sale until Fall, we need to be finished in the Spring to allow time for mastering, pressing and distribution."
Sounds like a direct to DVD move to me.
All of that wouldn't affect the enjoyability of the movie, however. These books had a huge impact on me as a kid. I loved reading something that seemed, to a younger reader, easier to read than the Lord of the Rings books, which I enjoyed as a kid but also had trouble with some of the heavy lifting required in the beginning of the work.
Still, I would prefer to see the movie on the big screen. The DVD release would mean I would have to buy the DVD to watch it since it might be hard to find at some rental chains. Of course, it's possible Blockbuster, Netflix or some other chain might actually carry the movie.
Regardless of what the director said, the movie is still being described as a theatrical release by numerous sites. Maybe they just aren't sure what the distributor is willing to risk until they have seen a finished product.
Time will tell. The Nerduary will continue to keep all eyes on this interesting development.
1 comment:
Dragon Lance was my first real foray into fantasy and I loved it all. I could never get into Fogotten Realms though. To me, DL just seemed more alive.
However, for anyone who has never read the books, I would stick with the original trilogy and the first follow up that follows Caramon and Raistlin post war.
The news of direct to DVD is a little bothersome though. I hope the quality is up to snuff.
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