Dragon's Lair movie?
Don Bluth wants to turn his classic video game into a feature film
Apr 30, 2007
Source: www.ign.com)
Anyone who was old enough to feed quarters into an arcade game back in 1983 will remember Dragon’s Lair. Developed by animator/director Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail), Rick Dyer and Gary Goldman, the cartoon game became an instant classic thanks to its innovative graphics and Disney-esque animation.
Millions willingly assisted adventurer Dirk the Daring as he risked his life to kill the dragon (later named Singe) and rescue the voluptuous Princess Daphne, making Dragon’s Lair the most popular arcade game of all time.
The secret of the game’s runaway success was in the seemingly inexhaustible storage capacity of the then-state of the art Laserdisc technology. Unfortunately, what made the game successful was also its Achilles Heel: constant overuse made the delicate components break down, which is why a Dragon’s Lair arcade game with the original Laserdisc player pulls big bucks on Ebay.
In an on-disc interview to promote the Blu-Ray re-release of Dragon’s Lair, the trio admitted that they are still working on a feature film based on the property.
"We've had a completed script for over three years now and we've had some very positive meetings with the studios," says Goldman. However, the biggest hurdle for studios is Bluth’s insistence that a Dragon’s Lair movie should be rendered in traditional cel animation.
Before striking out on his own, Bluth was an animator with the Walt Disney Company for many years, starting with 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and working right up until 1977’s Pete’s Dragon.
"It shouldn't be done as a CG movie, it should be done as traditional animation like the original game,” continues Goldman. “But traditional animation is in a sort of limbo."
The trio is heartened by the fact that the Walt Disney Company is reviving its dormant cel animation division. The Mouse House is releasing the live-action hybrid Enchanted coming November 21st, and is also working on The Princess and the Frog, starring Anika Noni Rose.
Goldman claims that Don Bluth "has (story-boarded) some of it already. It's a funny, funny script . . . The movie is actually a prequel. You'll follow Dirk from birth until he becomes a knight."
Rick Dyer mentions that a dragon from the Dragon’s Lair comic book may make an appearance in the movie. “This dragon has amazing powers,” Dyer reveals.
Fun Fact: Bluth’s animators couldn’t afford to hire live-action models to base Dragon’s Lair’s characters on, so they consulted photos from Playboy magazines when designing Princess Daphne.
