What old and now dead rumours have been floating around?

Last Updated 19-Feb-2006

Since the mid-1990s a range of rumours regarding Dragonlance movies have done the rounds. The most substantial of these (now dead) rumours were:

GenCon 2002/2003 Rumours
Rumours that an option had been taken out on the screen rights to Dragonlance started to surface after GenCon 2002. These were substantiated by Margaret Weis and fueled at GenCon 2003 by comments from Wizards of the Coast staffer Peter Archer who suggested that the option was held by a major studio. In September 2005, DLMS spoke to the licensing managers at Wizards and it turns out that there was indeed an option on Dragonlance (although held by a British production company, rather than a major studio), but that this option had lapsed.

Fox & Dragonlance
At the beginning of 1996 Margaret Weis informed us that "talks" were being conducted between 20th Century Fox and TSR regarding possible Dragonlance projects. The emphasis here is on projects (the plural), as ideas from telemovies, mini-series, features and even animation had been mentioned in connection with this. A year or two later nothing was heard about these discussions so it was presumed they hadn't resulted in any tangible projects.

Fox, Dragonheart & Dragonlance
One interesting idea that emerged from the Fox scenario involved the film "Dragonheart". It was suggested that Fox was closely watching the release of this film (in the second half of 1996) and planned to use its success or failure to gauge the feasibility of a Dragonlance project (historically the fantasy genre hasn't really been a big money-spinner for any Studio in the past, the only notable exception being Conan The Barbarian). Well "Dragonheart" only managed average-poor business (something to do with a crap script perhaps?) so this may well have cooled the Fox enthusiasm for a potentially more expensive outing.

Jim Henson (Muppet) Dragonlance
Early 1997 came around and word on the street was that TSR and Jim Henson Productions were conducting discussions which formed the initial stages of a possible Henson-produced Dragonlance project. Henson is of course famous for bringing us "The Muppets" amongst other things. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, enthusiasm for Muppet Dragonlance seemed to vaporise (if it really existed in the first place).

Large Production Company & Dragonlance
Also at the beginning of 1997, rumours suggesting that TSR was talking with a "large production company" regarding a Dragonlance project were rife on alt.fan.dragonlance. This company was reportedly not Henson - the rumour stemming from a post by TSR staffer Steve Miller. Nothing further immerged from this rumour so it is most likely that any deal fell through (or was a non-starter).

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