Entertainment One (eOne) has tapped “John Wick” writer Derek Kolstad to develop a “Dungeons & Dragons” TV-series pitch.
Dungeons & Dragons, which has been adapted for the big-screen before, is a popular board game from the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast. (Wizards of the Coast also created the popular Magic the Gathering card game.)
Following a $3.8 billion acquisition, Entertainment One is also now part of Hasbro, which knows a thing or two about board games (Monopoly, Clue, Yahtzee, Scrabble, etc.).
In addition to this small-screen development project, which we are told by an insider with knowledge of the process is in the “very early stages,” eOne is also working with other writers on other D&D projects. One of those is a new “Dungeons & Dragons” film, which is being directed by Jonathan Goldstein and Jonathan Francis Daley.
As first reported by TheWrap, Kolstad co-wrote “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” series for Disney+. He is represented by APA, Circle of Confusion and Behr Abramson Levy.
The “Dungeons & Dragons” movie in 2000, directed by Courtney Solomon and written by Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright, does not inspire much confidence in another go at the franchise. That D&D adaptation has just a 10% rating with the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience has the film at 20%.
That movie starred Jeremy Irons, Bruce Payne and Marlon Wayans, among others.
The 21-year-old movie was not just a critical nightmare, it was also a box-office bomb, drawing south of $34 million worldwide on a budget of $45 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Still, it inspired a sequel, which in 2005 had a very limited foreign release.
The Dungeons & Dragons board game is the stuff of legend in nerd culture. It has often crossed-over onto TV and film countless times, most recently as the go-to game for the kids in Netflix series “Stranger Things.” On Dan Harmon’s “Community,” the gang plays through a whole game.
THR first reported the news of Kolstad developing a “Dungeons & Dragons” show for Entertainment One.