By Gavin Boyle
Director James Bobin has been eyed to helm a live-action movie adaptation of popular early ’80s arcade video game “Dragon’s Lair” for Netflix.
“The status has changed a lot. Originally, it was gonna be one of the movies that was gonna be like a choose your own adventure. Like that BLACK MIRROR episode where you could decide the fate of the characters, and that’s the way we had originally developed it,” said producer Roy Lee, per Collider. “We had a 400-page script because you could go different directions and go different ways, and Ryan Reynolds was gonna play Dirk the Daring, but they pulled the plug on that format. Now we’re reconfiguring it as a straight, linear movie.”
While this change is certainly more practical, the previous format would have payed homage to the “Dragon’s Lair” games as their groundbreaking gameplay consisted of players making inputs as individual animated movies scenes played out. Depending on player’s input at certain times during these scenes, the game would respond in different ways.
The game follows the story of Dirk the Daring, a brave knight who goes on a quest to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe and the wizard Mordroc.
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Netflix acquired the movie rights to “Dragon’s Lair” in 2020 and originally planned for Ryan Reynolds to star. Reynolds will no longer be the face of the movie but will serve as a producer along with Lee, Trevor Engelson, Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Jon Pomeroy. While it hasn’t been revealed if the movie will target a younger audience or the older crowd who played the game in the ’80s, Bobin has experience creating movies for kids.
His previous work includes THE MUPPETS, MUPPETS MOST WANTED, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD. MUPPETS MOST WANTED received a crystal Teddy Award® during Movieguide®’s 2011 Gala. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:
MUPPETS MOST WANTED is delightful fun. It’s not quite as good as the last Muppet movie, but it has more musical numbers. Best of all, it has a great positive message. To fool the Muppets, Constantine lets them do whatever they want. Their selfishness ruins their show. Eventually, the Muppets realize they need Kermit’s guidance and rules. MUPPETS MOST WANTED also has several positive references to God.
As “Dragon’s Lair” is adapted for the big screen, it continues to trend of Hollywood turning to popular video game franchises to generate new content based on an already established IP. However, in the case of a game this old, it will need to be well produced to return its investment as the “Dragon’s Lair” name does not have the recognition it once had.
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