Ryan Reynolds will next be seen… uh, sometime this year (hopefully)… in ‘Free Guy’, in which he plays a character named Guy who discovers that he is an NPC in a violent video game that respawns every day just to go through the same war zone as the day before until he discovers a pair of goggles that make him a more integral part of the gameplay. And he’s following that project up with another video game-based film– an adaptation of ’80s arcade staple ‘Dragon’s Lair’.
After a year of negotiations, Netflix has landed the rights to turn this animated game into a film, and Reynolds is in talks to star and produce. Should he sign-on (and it sounds as though he is close) he will produce through his Maximum Effort banner. Also producing is Roy Lee via Vertigo Entertainment and Trevor Engelson via Underground Films. Reynolds recently starred in the Netflix original movie ‘6 Underground’, directed by Michael Bay.
The original ‘Dragon’s Lair’ game was innovative in that it swapped out the usual ’80s 8-bit graphics for slick animation by Don Bluth (‘An American Tail’, ‘All Dogs Go to Heaven’), who co-created the game with Rick Dyer. Bluth is also attached to produce the adaptation, along with Gary Goldman, and Jon Pomeroy.
‘Dragon’s Lair’ invaded arcades in 1983 and was meant to revolutionize the video game industry. Indeed, at one point, it was the most popular game in America, although that might be because it cost twice as much to play as other games. The innovative animation was supplied via Laser Disc.
Players operated as knight Dirk the Daring, who was on a quest to rescue the va-va-voom Princess Daphne from the castle of evil sorcerer Mordroc and the deadly dragon, Singe. Due to the complicated technology, the game was not initially adapted to home gaming systems, but an arcade sequel, ‘Dragon’s Lair II’ arrived in 1991. Bluth and Dyer also collaborated on the similar animated game ‘Space Ace’.
‘Dragon’s Lair’ returned to the pop culture landscape in 2017, when it factored into the second season of Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’.
Dan and Kevin Hageman are attached to write the screenplay. They are currently working as showrunners of the unnamed ‘Star Trek’ animated series heading to Nickelodeon and contributed to the script of the upcoming theatrical movie ‘The Croods 2’, which includes Reynolds as part of its voice cast. They also previously worked on ‘The LEGO Movie’ and ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’.
As for Reynolds, ‘Free Guy’ is his next film and is still scheduled to open on July 3, but of course, that depends on our current health crisis and how long that decides to stick around. After that, he will be seen in ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’, due out on August 28. ‘The Croods 2’ is scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 23. He is (or was) filming the action-comedy ‘Red Notice’ which is due out next year, and co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot.
Are you a fan of ‘Dragon’s Lair’? What do you think of Reynolds starring in a film adaptation?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
