Dragon's Lair Movie Kickstarter

[JetJockey]

There is a Dragon's Lair movie Kickstarter going. Since people here like anime and cartoons perhaps this might be of interest. I grew up with the old Dragon's Lair and Space Ace arcade games. I love the style of animation. They are asking a lot and still structuring better rewards I think. But I definitely would like to see what kind of movie they could come up with.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/donbluth/dragons-lair-the-movie

[Einherjar]

Wow, prior to this I never thought Kickstarter got such a huge portion of the pledge money when a project gets funded.

[JetJockey]

I think they hold funds while collecting for a bit too so I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing some quick investments with it.

They did many reward updates. Doesn't seem like anyone here is interested in this project though.

[Einherjar]

That talking point in its first video really bugged me for some reason. Considering the number of projects that go through the site, I thought Kickstarter's cut would be more modest. It really changed my perspective on many of the other Kickstarters mentioned here as the funded ones may have been working with significantly less money then creators really wanted to admit, if they even took the time to mention it for accountability. On the other end, a certain spectacular failure from last year looks even more unrealistic now since it was trying to do the same thing with even bigger expectations.

[jenius]

Are you sure you got the number right? I'm not rewatching the video right now but I thought he said "Kickstarter PLUS the cost of all the rewards we're giving out is XX%". So they could just be putting a huge value on all the rewards. So like, if you chip in $1000 maybe you get a drawing from him with his signature. Maybe he thinks that drawing is worth $1000 so he buys it from himself for that much.

[Keith]

I have so many reservations about this. First & foremost, look at Bluth, do you really think he's got another movie left in him? Let alone a 10 minute pitch reel. I'n not being mean here, he just doesn't physically look up to a stressful movie schedule. Especially since he'd have ti train a new team of animators (seriously, look what's produced here now). That'd leave him on key-frame duty, and I just dkn't see him coping well with a Miyazaki level of Workload. Also:

- There is a full few minutes that they're calling this "Dragon Layers." Although, the idea of Bluth making his own parody porn version could be a selling point...

- Nowhere on the Kickstarter page do they spell out that they'd be doing a prequel, unless the article you linked is wrong. If it is a prequel though, that may disappoint a ton of people expecting a straight full length version of the game.

- Kickatarter bonuses are "way" out of wack. All tiers $50 and above should at least have a digital copy of the pitch reel attached.

- Trigger was able to do so much more with $625,000 on Little Witch Academia 2 (and admittedly, they have an infinitely easier time getting investors). But from a backer perspective, putting in for a completely finished 40 minute project that you get a copy of at reasonable backer levels (and LWA has animation that blows anything Bluth did out of the water, check it out), it just makes it harder to justify donating to a pitch reel, not guarunteed to go anywhere.

- $125 blu-ray backer tier is insanely misleeding. What you actually get is a copy of the OOP existing DL game blu-ray. Currently it's sitting at 109 open slots, and again, that disc is OOP. Is Bluth sitting on boxes of Dragon's Lair & Space Ace BD's, jacking up the seller price on Amazon? If so, dick move! Oh also, backers still aren't getting a physical copy of the pitch still just a digital copy at that level.

- Last, and most importantly, why isn't that POS Tim Burton helping to fund this? You'd think out of some form of respect, he of all people would give Bluth a hand in not fading off into community theatre obscurity.

Maybe I'm being harsh here, but animation is something I get serious about. I'd love to see Bluth out out something like this, but I'm not optimistic a kickstarter backed demo reel would come of anything. If John Lasseter or Tim Burton stepped up with some major support now, that'd be another story. But especially unemployed, I can't bet on this production in its current shape.

[Einherjar]

Are you sure you got the number right? I'm not rewatching the video right now but I thought he said "Kickstarter PLUS the cost of all the rewards we're giving out is XX%". So they could just be putting a huge value on all the rewards. So like, if you chip in $1000 maybe you get a drawing from him with his signature. Maybe he thinks that drawing is worth $1000 so he buys it from himself for that much.

Yes, you're right. Most of the rewards don't sound like they would cost much.

[Roy Focker]

It would make more sense for them to license the Dragon Lair to some video game publisher.

[JetJockey]

That talking point in its first video really bugged me for some reason. Considering the number of projects that go through the site, I thought Kickstarter's cut would be more modest. It really changed my perspective on many of the other Kickstarters mentioned here as the funded ones may have been working with significantly less money then creators really wanted to admit, if they even took the time to mention it for accountability. On the other end, a certain spectacular failure from last year looks even more unrealistic now since it was trying to do the same thing with even bigger expectations.

What's the Kickstarter failure from last year?

Are you sure you got the number right? I'm not rewatching the video right now but I thought he said "Kickstarter PLUS the cost of all the rewards we're giving out is XX%". So they could just be putting a huge value on all the rewards. So like, if you chip in $1000 maybe you get a drawing from him with his signature. Maybe he thinks that drawing is worth $1000 so he buys it from himself for that much.

They put up some cheaper drawings. I guess they are by the animators and signed by Don Bluth. The $1000 ones are his. Funny thing is I remember years ago he was selling his drawings for a lot cheaper. I think under $200. But they were based on templates I think.

I have so many reservations about this. First & foremost, look at Bluth, do you really think he's got another movie left in him? Let alone a 10 minute pitch reel. I'n not being mean here, he just doesn't physically look up to a stressful movie schedule. Especially since he'd have ti train a new team of animators (seriously, look what's produced here now). That'd leave him on key-frame duty, and I just dkn't see him coping well with a Miyazaki level of Workload. Also:

- There is a full few minutes that they're calling this "Dragon Layers." Although, the idea of Bluth making his own parody porn version could be a selling point...

- Nowhere on the Kickstarter page do they spell out that they'd be doing a prequel, unless the article you linked is wrong. If it is a prequel though, that may disappoint a ton of people expecting a straight full length version of the game.

- Kickatarter bonuses are "way" out of wack. All tiers $50 and above should at least have a digital copy of the pitch reel attached.

- Trigger was able to do so much more with $625,000 on Little Witch Academia 2 (and admittedly, they have an infinitely easier time getting investors). But from a backer perspective, putting in for a completely finished 40 minute project that you get a copy of at reasonable backer levels (and LWA has animation that blows anything Bluth did out of the water, check it out), it just makes it harder to justify donating to a pitch reel, not guarunteed to go anywhere.

- $125 blu-ray backer tier is insanely misleeding. What you actually get is a copy of the OOP existing DL game blu-ray. Currently it's sitting at 109 open slots, and again, that disc is OOP. Is Bluth sitting on boxes of Dragon's Lair & Space Ace BD's, jacking up the seller price on Amazon? If so, dick move! Oh also, backers still aren't getting a physical copy of the pitch still just a digital copy at that level.

- Last, and most importantly, why isn't that POS Tim Burton helping to fund this? You'd think out of some form of respect, he of all people would give Bluth a hand in not fading off into community theatre obscurity.

Maybe I'm being harsh here, but animation is something I get serious about. I'd love to see Bluth out out something like this, but I'm not optimistic a kickstarter backed demo reel would come of anything. If John Lasseter or Tim Burton stepped up with some major support now, that'd be another story. But especially unemployed, I can't bet on this production in its current shape.

I didn't say prequel and I linked the Kickstarter correctly.

I saw some people on Neogaf get Little Witch Academia 2 sketches from that Kickstarter. I have it on my list to check out.

$75 level to get the video is expensive. I thought they were arranging things better. A lot of Kickstarters that I've seen have poor reward arrangements at the beginning. I don't know why. Maybe to maximize money early? People in the comments are always talking about changing levels too. I guess that's why I usually watch to see if things are funded and legitimate before putting up my money.

The $125 level does say a copy of the Dragon's Lair game. But a $125 Blu-ray is crazy. I have the old versions on DVD. Not the movie versions. I read the movie versions and I think Blu-ray versions too have issues with timing. Some are taking the Blu-ray footage and running it through another software program for the perfect version from what I've read.

It would make more sense for them to license the Dragon Lair to some video game publisher.

I wish they would come out with a definitive Dragon's Lair 1, 2, and Space Ace Complete set that had everything perfect. This would be the right time with this movie Kickstarter going.

Edited November 10, 2015 by JetJockey

[EXO]

And the project is just for the pitch too. It's just for them to hire a screenwriter and for Bluth to draw a couple of minutes animation for the pitch. I don't really see why they would need that since there's already so much footage from the games that they can show to investors for them to know what it's going to look like, if they've never hear or seen the game before. And having a finished screenplay doesn't really do anything for a pitch. You can do as much with a log line or a scriptment because once the investors do sign, they'll hire another writer to do their version. But once they started the Kickstarter campaign, they really put it all in that basket... if it is successful, it sort of shows how much people are interested in the a Dragon's Lair movie. But if it fails, that'll be that for it ever becoming a movie. A successful campaign doesn't guarantee a movie though, it's just a notch for the pitch. They still have to fight the Hollywood machine that says traditional animation can be successfl in this day and age.

[Keith]

What's the Kickstarter failure from last year?

They put up some cheaper drawings. I guess they are by the animators and signed by Don Bluth. The $1000 ones are his. Funny thing is I remember years ago he was selling his drawings for a lot cheaper. I think under $200. But they were based on templates I think.

I didn't say prequel and I linked the Kickstarter correctly.

I saw some people on Neogaf get Little Witch Academia 2 sketches from that Kickstarter. I have it on my list to check out.

$75 level to get the video is expensive. I thought they were arranging things better. A lot of Kickstarters that I've seen have poor reward arrangements at the beginning. I don't know why. Maybe to maximize money early? People in the comments are always talking about changing levels too. I guess that's why I usually watch to see if things are funded and legitimate before putting up my money.

The $125 level does say a copy of the Dragon's Lair game. But a $125 Blu-ray is crazy. I have the old versions on DVD. Not the movie versions. I read the movie versions and I think Blu-ray versions too have issues with timing. Some are taking the Blu-ray footage and running it through another software program for the perfect version from what I've read.

I wish they would come out with a definitive Dragon's Lair 1, 2, and Space Ace Complete set that had everything perfect. This would be the right time with this movie Kickstarter going.

I copy pasta'd my response from elsewhere. This is apparently supposed to be a prequel project.

[Einherjar]

What's the Kickstarter failure from last year?

Robotech Academy. It was also meant to create a pitch to sell to TV networks. To add to what EXO said, the worst case scenario if both of them were ever funded is that backers would get just a copy of said pitch.

[JetJockey]

They stopped the Kickstarter before the last few days. It wasn't going to get funded. And they are moving it to another crowd source site. I don't know how the other site is different from Kickstarter. But it's supposed to start today. I haven't checked it yet. I hope they gave it more thought this time around.

[Keith]

They stopped the Kickstarter before the last few days. It wasn't going to get funded. And they are moving it to another crowd source site. I don't know how the other site is different from Kickstarter. But it's supposed to start today. I haven't checked it yet. I hope they gave it more thought this time around.

Unless they retool for an actual production, the benefit of a 10 minute demo reel doesn't fit the cost.

[JB0]

They stopped the Kickstarter before the last few days. It wasn't going to get funded. And they are moving it to another crowd source site. I don't know how the other site is different from Kickstarter. But it's supposed to start today. I haven't checked it yet. I hope they gave it more thought this time around.

If it's IndieGogo, they can set up a fundraising drive where they get money immediately, no matter how little is pledged. If one person pledges five bucks, they get five bucks and can buy a couple cokes for the "project" fridge.

[JetJockey]

Unless they retool for an actual production, the benefit of a 10 minute demo reel doesn't fit the cost.

I checked few days ago and they were close to the funding amount. Although they lowered it. I want to see what the Art of Dragon's Lair book looks like. It was way too much on the campaign. I assume it will be released normally one day.

If it's IndieGogo, they can set up a fundraising drive where they get money immediately, no matter how little is pledged. If one person pledges five bucks, they get five bucks and can buy a couple cokes for the "project" fridge.

Really? That doesn't sound like a site I would fund then. I like the idea of funded or not. Giving money to something that won't happen because they didn't reach the amount doesn't sound like a good idea.