Why the 2022 Dungeons and Dragons film will be a flop.

Having big stars only increases the financial damages of making a Dungeons and Dragons film. So far the cast for the upcoming 2022 D&D film includes:

• Regé-Jean Page
• Chris Pine
• Michelle Rodriguez
• Justice Smith
  

Now immediately you will realize that Chis and Michelle aren't cheap. Big stars may help to get people to take the film more seriously, but the financial risks are greater because they are also more expensive.

The problem with making a D&D film is that they keep starting with a blank slate in terms of plot.

They never based the films on the books...

Eg. They could very easily make live action films based on the following book series:

• The Icewind Dale Trilogy
• The Dragonlance Chronicles

Those two book series are very popular. Either one of them, with a decent budget, would make a very good trilogy of films and could lead into a whole franchise of fantasy films similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But instead they're going to repeat what they did in 2000, 2005 and 2012. Movies with very little plot, lackluster characters, and sloppy storytelling.

Now it is possible, I should note, to base a film on a book or book series and then completely ruin it.

Case in point:

John Carter of Mars

Having read the books (and seen the Disney version of the first book) I can tell you several things: The scriptwriters ignored the source material for the most part, only loosely based the film on "A Princess of Mars", and what they presented was a cobbled together mess.

To be fair "A Princess of Mars" is an okay book. Four stars out of five. But books 2 and 3 basically just repeat the plot from book 1. Books 4 and 5? Oh look. Same thing. Rescue the princess. You get the picture.

And this is why it is important to choose a book series that changes over time, but has a larger arc for the characters... And why you pick a book series that has consistently favourable reviews.

And then all you have to do is not muck it up.

Hence why I foresee this new 2022 D&D film be a huge financial flop. Unless they're secretly making the first book adaptation then I foresee they will be going into this with a shoddily put together plot, very expensive actors, and studio/producer interference with the final product.

Remember the original version of Justice League?

That's what you get when you get studio/producer interference and then the director quits and you replace the good director with a subpar director.

Seriously. It is going to be a train wreck.