'Dragon's Lair' Movie Kickstarter Launched: Will It Finally Happen?

The journey for animator Don Bluth and his long-time collaborator Gary Goldman in creating a "Dragon's Lair" movie requires help.

Comic Book Resources is reporting that the duo is seeking to raise US$550,000 to help fund a 10-minute video that the pair will use to help find possible financiers and studios. Bluth and Goldman have said that it will take about US$70 million to fully produce a full-length animated "Dragon's Lair" movie.

Eurogamer states that so far, Bluth and Goldman have been able to raise about US$22,000 of the US$550,000 goal, and time is running out. The project kickstarter has about 30 days before it expires on the Nov. 25 deadline.

The filmmakers explained on their Kickstarter page that the reason why they are asking so much is because of the high cost of production alone. This is because animation, hand drawn or computer drawn, can cost anywhere from US$55 million to US$240 million to draw. Then, filmmakers would have to take in consideration another US$100 million for marketing and development.

Given these extremely high costs, independent cartoon studios like Bluth and Goldman's have to market their product to bigger film studios such as Warner Bros, Disney or Sony, for example.

The planned movie is to be a prequel to the 1983 cult classic game which is often credited as the originator of quick time event games. While the game did not have much in terms of character interaction, it has stayed popular throughout the years because of its high quality of animation and experimental fusion of gaming and movies.

"Dragon's Lair" is also known for being one of the only games to unlock the full potential of the Laser Disc technology. By tapping into the vast storage potential of the laser disc, Bluth and Goldman were able to provide the high quality that "Dragon's Lair" was known for. However, they had to sacrifice game play to do so, hence the cut sequence type play.

The original Dragon's Lair follows the adventures of Dirk the Daring as he goes forth to rescue the lovely Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe. Over the years, the game has gotten a lot of attention and many different ports. Therefore, it has seen play on almost all of the modern-age gaming consoles. There is even a version for the iPhone available on the iStore.