05 What other news/rumours have been floating around? (Dragonlance Movie)
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This article is from the Dragonlance Movie FAQ, by Benjamin Craig benc@toaster.globalnet.NoSpam!.co.uk with numerous contributions by others.
05 What other news/rumours have been floating around? (Dragonlance Movie)
Lots. Welcome to the wonderful time in the genesis of a movie we
in the business refer to as 'development hell'. It can mean
anything from a producer simply having an idea in the back of
their head (and telling people "I'm developing a project at the
moment"), through to a company contracting a writer to bach out a
screenplay. Some of the buzz so far...
Fox & Dragonlance
At the beginning of 1996 Margaret Weis informed us that 'talks'
were being conducted between Fox and TSR regarding possible DL
projects. The emphasis here is on projects (the plural), as ideas
from telemovies, mini-series, features and even animation had
been mentioned in connection with this. The other important
questions regarding this potential partnership was, just which
part(s) of Dragonlance® would be used? The existing novels, the
game materials, both or something entirely new? Nothing has been
heard of these discussions for over a year now so it is probably
safe to assume that not much is happening there in the
foreseeable future.
Fox, Dragonheart & Dragonlance
One interesting idea that emerged from the Fox scenario involved
the film Dragonheart. It was suggested that Fox were closely
watching the release of this film (in the second half of 1996)
and planned to use it's success/failure to gauge the feasibility
of a DL project. The fantasy genre hasn't really been a big
money-spinner for any Studio in the past, the only notable
exception being Conan The Barbarian. Well Dragonheart only did
so-so business (something to do with a crap script perhaps?) so
this may well have cooled the Fox enthusiasm for a potentially
more expensive outing.
Jim Henson (Muppet) Dragonlance
Early 1997 came around and word on the street was that TSR and
Jim Henson Productions were conducting discussions which formed
the initial stages of a possible Henson-produced DL project.
Henson is of course famous for bringing us The Muppets, amongst
other things. There has since been no word as to how the buy-out
will/won't/did effect these discussions. See "I Heard Something
About Muppet DL" for more info.
'Large Production Company' & Dragonlance
Also at the beginning of 1997, rumours suggesting that TSR was
talking with a 'large production' company regarding a DL project
were rife on alt.fan.dragonlance. This company was reportedly not
Henson, the rumour stemming from a post by TSR staffer Steve
Miller. Nothing further has immerged from this and since then
several staff have departed TSR ranks. This is quite possibly the
"deal that fell through". Oh, there was also this small corporate
buy-out that happened recently too.
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