Power Rangers, transform and ROLL OUT
May 1, 2018 3:02 PM   Subscribe

Hasbro agrees to acquire the Power Rangers and other IP from Saban Entertainmen for about $520 million in cash and stock. Hasbro is trying to recover losses following the bankruptcy of Toys 'R Us.
posted by hanov3r (36 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
If Hasbro is attempting to write off losses following the bankruptcy of Toys 'R Us and all the money the retailer owed them, how are they going to do it by giving $520 million to Saban?

Or is Toy 'R Us debt sort of a red herring in this story, and the real story is that Hasbro is moving beyond traditional toy sales and into IP?
posted by JamesBay at 3:25 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


The last film had a $100 Million production budget, so its $185M worldwide gross seems either mediocre or disappointing. I guess the real profit from a movie from like that comes from merchandising, but my impression was also that the new movie was more pointed at nostalgic older generations than new younger viewers... although that might be where the toy money is, at this point.
posted by codacorolla at 4:47 PM on May 1, 2018


In addition to G.I. Joe and Transformers, Hasbro owns My Little Pony, and also owns Wizards of the Coast, which controls Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. The crossover potential is staggering.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:53 PM on May 1, 2018 [11 favorites]


Moving into IP? They own G.I. Joe, Transfomers, and Dungeons and Dragons.
posted by demiurge at 4:53 PM on May 1, 2018 [10 favorites]


And the building where Hasbro moved to recently has a rotating, ten-foot cube on the roof with their logo that seems 100% destined to be thrown about by a hurricane with the decade.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:56 PM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


> a rotating, ten-foot cube on the roof with their logo that seems 100% destined to be thrown about by a hurricane with the decade

This is me as a DM: they see me rollin, they hatin
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:08 PM on May 1, 2018 [9 favorites]


but my impression was also that the new movie was more pointed at nostalgic older generations than new younger viewers... although that might be where the toy money is, at this point.

A few years ago, when I worked at a toy store, much of the Power Rangers sales came from the expensive collectible set geared at older fans.
posted by drezdn at 5:15 PM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


I've often thought that if Hasbro was smart, they'd do a new Dungeons & Dragons movie. Not live action, but wildly animated like The Incredibles or How to Train Your Dragon.

Also, if Disney was smart, they'd talk to Warner Brothers about making a Star Wars Lego Movie.
posted by SPrintF at 5:18 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


Dungeons and Dragons is one of the most underutilized IPs out there. It has huge name recognition, and can easily be rolled into a Cinematic Universe as is all the rage these days. The previous movie attempts had no idea what their audience should be, and suffered from the over-reliance on bad CGI that was common in the early 2000s. An animated D&D movie or series in the style of How to Train your Dragon or say, Star Wars Rebels would print money.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:13 PM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


Hasbro already has a shared comic book universe where Transformers, GI Joe, M.A.S.K, and others cross over with each other.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:14 PM on May 1, 2018


I think the idea is to soak up enough nostalgia-primed rebootable IP that Disney buys them. Like startups and Google.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 6:19 PM on May 1, 2018 [4 favorites]


Does D&D have a deep collection of stories to draw from? I think a film set in that universe would have the same drawbacks as video game films. The universe revolves around ensuring enjoyable play rather than the story, so it doesn't adapt as well as say LOTR or Marvel, where the emphasis is on writing a compelling narrative. I was under the impression that most of the plotted adventures were just frameworks that the players filled in during the game.
posted by Query at 6:35 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


My sister always sings the theme song as “Go go flower arrangers” which is much better.
posted by w0mbat at 6:39 PM on May 1, 2018 [9 favorites]


Does D&D have a deep collection of stories to draw from?

You could go all Sword Coast or Planescape, but why? One of the great strengths of the game is that you are telling your own, new stories with your own heroes. Plus, a new D&D setting would move that much more merchandise for Hasbro.
posted by SPrintF at 6:45 PM on May 1, 2018


D&D only happened because of Lord of the Rings anyway. Any D&D movie is a weak LOTR knock-off at best. (at worst? at worst, it's about people that roll dice, or somehow get sucked into a fantasy world after rolling dice.)
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:07 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


If this sinks Hasbro, which owns literally every toy and game Mattel doesn’t, the world will be a much better place.

(As for Saban, the only good thing he ever did was the music for Inspector Gadget and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and I don’t think they’re quite worth half a billion dollars either. Close, though.)
posted by Sys Rq at 7:10 PM on May 1, 2018


Moving into IP? They own G.I. Joe, Transfomers, and Dungeons and Dragons

Hasbro has indeed become obsessed with protecting and promoting their intellectual property. I've read interviews with the Transformers design and marketing people where they talk about that being the specific reason they switched over to packaging Transformers in robot mode, as opposed to their vehicle modes which had been the traditional way for decades.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 7:14 PM on May 1, 2018


In the way of D&D, I'd be interested to see what they could make transforming some of the old classic modules to film/series. The framework is there, they just need to come up with some interesting characters to run through them.
posted by calamari kid at 7:32 PM on May 1, 2018


Does the Dragonlance saga ownership come with D&D?
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:09 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


There's tonnes you could do with D&D alone. For one thing there's so much weird shit inherent to the whole thing. Flipping Illithids and Beholders and Owlbears and Hook Horrors and Rust Monsters and Thri-Kreen and that one time Cyric/Raistlin/probably JimDarkmagic became a God complete with their own constellation. Never mind Yu-Gi-Oh-ing up the current ruleset by characters shouting rules at each other (also an option) or even making the least use of the settings and their ridiculously detailed history (Planescape forfend!). If you can't make something zero-budget Blair Witch and filmic out of that source material then you're essentially a worse storyteller than four or five decades of "amateur" DMs.

With the right person (flip knows who) at the Helm you could replicate the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Super slow build to an Eberron Assemble or even a Spelljammity War. Or else just James Bond it and keep telling slight variations on the same story for umpteen years in exchange for free money.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 9:13 PM on May 1, 2018


I missed the chance to casually drop a "Crisis On Infinite Oerths" in there and damn it!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 9:37 PM on May 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


I imagine you could also make an entertaining D&D short film with characters who somehow realize that they're projections or pawns from another reality where four folks are sitting around a table gambling with their lives, putting words in their mouths, and otherwise creating their now surprisingly vague, inferred reality. You ever notice how each dungeon wall is just "wall"? No real detail, some stone of some kind but that's about it? Or how each Bandit is just "Bandit"? Or how hours pass in an inn, but nothing really happens in those hours other than the passage of time? Or how, just a few months ago you could be stabbed and lose 6 hit points, leaving you on death's door. Now when you lose 6 hit points you can shrug it off no problem. WHY?

The reality of a Dungeons and Dragons game is conspicuous, unsettling, and worth exploring.
posted by Philipschall at 11:02 PM on May 1, 2018


D&D has basically no stories but what it does have are settings, and the ones that survive range from kind of generic to potentially interesting. Forgotten Realms is the current 'base' setting, and it's the one with Drizz't and the one where all the classic computer games are set (other than Planescape: Torment). It's pretty generic, but there's so much raw material there from the dozens of books written for the setting that, like the Marvel comics universe, you could probably find a cool detail to make a movie out of. (In essence, this is what roleplaying settings are designed for: you have a story, and the game provides some thematically appropriate locations and NPCs for your story to take place in.)
But if you stretch to Ravenloft, the horror setting, you can mash up fantasy and horror cliches in a way that doesn't often get done; Eberron has got steampunk trains and wild jungles and that kind of thing; Dark Sun is a low magic desert world, so a fantasy Mad Max; Planescape is your team-up movie because all of these settings can link to Sigil, the City of Doors, itself pretty cool; or Spelljammer which is straight up breaking out of the genre what with its spaceships sailing through bubbles of unreality.

I don't think you have to have a metafictional layer for a movie based on D&D to be appealing; unlike a lot of fantasy, D&D is content to be about a group of people building something together without necessarily being the only important people in that world. (For this reason, it might be better as a TV series.)
posted by Merus at 12:02 AM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


The two most obvious ways to do a DnD movie are both so easy to write that it makes me fucking crazy that they're not doing anything with it.

1. Literally just adapt some adventures league modules that already exist. Use the writing that is already there, hire anybody in the world to add some dialogue between the most archetypical fighter/rogue/wizard/cleric party with their backstories literally rolled on a table in the player's handbook. Won't win any awards, but will show an example of a group of plucky heroes cooperating to take down Tiamet the Dragon or whatever the fuck.

2. Get a bunch of famous DnD podcasters like the McElroy brothers, the oneshot crew, etc who are already generating popular, moneymaking stories based on DnD or other tabletop RPGs, give them free drinks, and lock the door. Let a bunch of famous improvisors play DnD as it's actually played for a couple of days. Start them on any regular "go fight the goblin chief" low level quest and come back with a script that ends with the fishman monk surfing down the side of an exploding mountain on a living brain, arguing with the DM about what they need to roll to do an ollie without faceplanting. Edit the results into the script for an anthology TV show, or if you get really lucky a very weird animated movie.
posted by fomhar at 2:02 AM on May 2, 2018 [3 favorites]


Guardians of the Galaxy was a D&D movie at heart, so just copy that formula (including "make sure you have decent writers/director/talent" otherwise, that how you get SNNAAAIIILLLSSS) and go for it. Don't follow an established adventure, but refer to enough classic bits ("Was that Berem Everman at the bar?") to keep your core happy, have enough action and jokes to fill the rest of the seats, and you're golden.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:03 AM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


I love Power Rangers as my Nerd Major, but what I might enjoy even more than that is Power Rangers as a Business even more.

So Disney in the early 2000's is a different beast than what it is now. At the time they were DESPERATE to get boys to buy their stuff, because everyone just saw Disney as "The Princess Company". So they buy the PR IP from Haim Saban way back when they bought Fox Family.

Except, the problem with buying an IP like PR is that it's WAY more expensive to keep it rolling than just putting out comic books. Disney Channel has their own actors shoot their own shows on their own soundstages in their own production studios in their own theme parks. Lizzie Mcguire is about to start airing, but suddenly you've got a show with a bunch of twenty somethings that shoot all the way in New Zealand, that needs to have Pyrotechnics as a line item in their budget.

So cut to 2010, and Disney wants nothing to do with this show. They had already spent the last contractually obligated season making a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers REEEMIX where they would...well it's easier to just show you

So Haim Saban comes back into play. He goes and tells Disney he'll take the IP for 100 million. Disney agrees, and proceeds to use that money to buy Everything On The Planet.

So Haim Saban managed to turn an IP that was so doing so poorly Disney *sold it* for a hundred million, turned the franchise around into the mega hit it is among kids today, and then sell the IP for a cool 420 million profit.
posted by WeX Majors at 6:32 AM on May 2, 2018 [3 favorites]


I'm surprised the Dragonlance novels haven't made it to film or as a series for one of the streaming services. I never met a gaming group that didn't have at least one person who lived for those books.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:29 AM on May 2, 2018


I'm surprised the Dragonlance novels haven't made it to film or as a series for one of the streaming services.

I'd love for that to happen but I doubt it will. There was an animated adaptation of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, which featured the voice of Keifer Sutherland and that's about all I really remember from that. It's not that great but if you're bored or maybe high/drunk it might be worth your time.
posted by Fizz at 8:54 AM on May 2, 2018


That being said, I've sort of accepted that my dragons on television needs are being met by Game of Thrones. We'll have to see what happens with the upcoming Lord of the Rings television series and whether that can tap into some of my nostalgia itches for elves and the like.
posted by Fizz at 8:55 AM on May 2, 2018


“The Dread Gazebo: A D&D Story”
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:01 AM on May 2, 2018 [5 favorites]


I imagine you could also make an entertaining D&D short film with characters who somehow realize that they're projections or pawns from another reality where four folks are sitting around a table gambling with their lives, putting words in their mouths, and otherwise creating their now surprisingly vague, inferred reality.

You've seen The Adventure Zone live action short, right?
posted by FatherDagon at 9:49 AM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


The way to make a D&D movie is to film a campaign... wasn't there a classic anime based on a roleplaying campaign? Record of Lodoss War, right?

You end up with strong character development and some satisfying twists and turns.... although, come to think of it, maybe roleplaying adaptions work better as serials due to the stricter requirements of cinematic pacing.
posted by subdee at 12:52 PM on May 2, 2018


D&D only happened because of Lord of the Rings anyway. Any D&D movie is a weak LOTR knock-off at best. (at worst? at worst, it's about people that roll dice, or somehow get sucked into a fantasy world after rolling dice.)

Stranger Things, the explosion of D&D podcasts (my non-nerd friends even listen to these), and the Community D&D episodes have proven that a "realistic" D&D movie would be at least a modest success.

Have a two framed story, with one frame being the people playing the game IRL, and the second frame being a high budget production of what's happening inside their imagination. Base it on a classic module (you can even theme depending on horror, epic fantasy, low fantasy, given on what sort of larger, overall story you want to tell) for nostalgia and IP reasons. Use the interpersonal drama of the players around the table as fuel for the higher concept imagination frame stuff. You can play with neat cuts in between the two, maybe tell a Rashomon style story where competing interpretations of dice rolls play out, creative editing and writing where the two worlds collide.

I'm not sure that this is a three movie blockbuster, but I think it would be relatively cheap to produce and probably put about 50 million dollars worth of asses in seats.
posted by codacorolla at 3:17 PM on May 2, 2018


D&D tv series. Do it like Table Titans, where you switch between scenes between players and characters. Heck, option Table Titans and turn it into a live action TV show.
posted by fings at 8:20 PM on May 2, 2018


There is an already existing series of movies called The Gamers which is basically what people are thinking of when they say you should have a large component of the movie be players around the table.

It's very bad.

The problem with adapting D&D and having it partially set amongst its players is that your audience expects the players of your D&D game to be irritating losers, and if you make them _not that_ then you've violated the audience's suspension of disbelief. This isn't how D&D works in real life! But it is how it's going to work if you try and dramatise it for a general audience. (For a gamer audience you can make the characters sympathic, which is why it's bizarre that The Gamers does this so poorly.)
posted by Merus at 1:03 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


I dunno, Super Hero movies weren't viewed the same way that they are now until Nolan's Batman movies (for better or for worse). There's no necessity (and a lot of detriment) to having your characters be cardboard nerd stereotypes. Genres tend to produce a lot of middling to poor stuff until someone gets it right. Having the official D&D license would probably help, though.
posted by codacorolla at 10:01 AM on May 5, 2018


« Older “It’s basically porn, for the PC Master Race,”   |   An Extraordinary Union Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments