Muppets Most Wanted director James Bobin is reportedly in negotiations to take on Netflix’s spin on the 1980s videogame, Dragon’s Lair.
Netflix’s planned adaptation of the 1983 videogame Dragon’s Lair looks to have taken a sizeable step forward, with the news that James Bobin is in talks to direct. Ryan Reynolds is producing and as far as we know, also attached to star in the project as Dirk The Daring, the slightly overwhelmed knight who ventures into the lair of Singe the Dragon with the noble intent of rescuing the fair Princess Daphne.
Bobin wrote and directed Muppets Most Wanted, while his most recent feature credit is 2019’s Dora And The Lost City Of Gold. According to The InSneider, the script is by The Lego Movie’s Dan and Kevin Hageman, with things taking a while to come together given that the duo were handed the writing assignment in 2022. The project itself was first announced all the way back in 2020.
Dragon’s Lair was one of the more creatively ambitious games released in the early 1980s arcade boom. While its interactivity wasn’t as developed as other titles of the time – you essentially hit buttons when prompted to keep the action going – graphically it was stunning. Playing almost like an interactive cartoon, gamers were tasked with guiding Dirk The Daring past a series of deadly traps, hazards and enemies through well-practised joystick movements that required a well-honed sense of timing.
Its hand-drawn animation was created by former Disney artist Don Buth and his team, which was then recorded and played back on LaserDisc. Despite the arcade machine’s technical issues, Dragon’s Lair was a huge hit – not least because of its vibrant animation.
When Netflix’s popular Stranger Things took its mid-80s setting into a local video arcade in the show’s second season, Dragon’s Lair was the game that the young characters were playing… and finding incredibly difficult to beat. Given the involvement of Ryan Reynolds, we can probably expect some meta humour poking fun at the title’s history, along with plenty of other light-hearted japery.
No word as yet regarding when Dragon’s Lair will go into production, nor has a release window been announced. When we do hear more, we’ll let you know. If you want to read more about the original video game version of Dragon’s Lair, we celebrated the title’s 40th birthday a couple of years ago. You can check out our fond remembrances in our 2013 retrospective.
