Don Bluth launches Dragon's Lair movie Kickstarter
Needs $550k to make a pitch video for a $70m film.
Legendary animator Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, An American Tale, Anastasia) and his long-term collaborator and Gary Goldman (All Dogs to to Heaven, Titan A.E.) have launched a Kickstarter campaign for a feature film based on their 1983 cult classic video game Dragon's Lair.
Dragon's Lair is often credited as being the game that introduced quick-time events (though that term wasn't coined until Shenmue in 1999). Originally released on LaserDisc and arcades, Dragon's Lair offered limited character interaction, but remained a known quantity for its high production values and experimental merging of a movie and a game. It starred a knight named Dirk the Daring as he stormed the evil wizard Mordroc's castle to rescue Princess Daphne from the fierce dragon Singe.
A hand-drawn animated Dragon's Lair movie would cost a fortune to produce. "These films, traditional hand-drawn or computer generated can cost anywhere from $55m to $240m, some even more - just on the production," the filmmakers explained on the Kickstarter page. "Promoting an animated film could cost an additional $100m to market the film worldwide."
As such, Bluth and Goldman are just looking for $550k to create a 10 minute video to pitch the Dragon's Lair movie to outside investors. They expect the final movie to cost roughly $70m to produce.
The Dragon's Lair movie is planned as a prequel to the game. There's various rewards available for different tiers, like backer-exclusive blog and video updates for $25 or a Blu-Ray of Dragon's Lair at $125.
Since its 1983 launch, Dragon's Lair has been re-released on various platforms such as PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, 3DS, DS, iOS, Android and more.
So far the Dragon's Lair movie has raised $21,684 of its $550k goal with 30 days to go before its 25th November deadline.
