In 2020, Ryan Reynolds was cast in Dragon’s Lair, a live-action movie set up at Netflix based on the 1983 animated arcade game. That project hasn’t had a lot of momentum in the last five years, but now Dragon’s Lair is circling a director and it may finally be moving forward.
As reported by The InSneider and confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, James Bobin is currently in talks to helm Dragon’s Lair, but his deal hasn’t been closed yet. Bobin has previously directed Disney’s acclaimed reboot of The Muppets in 2011, as well as its sequel, Muppets Most Wanted. His other credits include Dora and the Lost City of Gold, as well as episodes of Flight of the Conchords, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Animation legend Don Bluth co-created Dragon’s Lair with Gary Goldman, Jon Pomeroy, and Rick Dyer in 1983, and the game was revolutionary for its time. Players assumed control of Dirk the Daring, a largely silent knight who broke into a deadly castle to save Princess Daphne from a dragon named Singe. Each room in the castle was filled with traps or enemies, and Dirk died horrible deaths if players made the wrong move.
The first Dragon’s Lair spawned a short-lived animated series, and the sequel, Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp, was released in arcades in 1991. Both Dragon’s Lair games–and Bluth’s other animated arcade hit, Space Ace–have been ported to consoles and computers several times.
In 2015, Bluth and Goldman crowdfunded a demo for a Dragon’s Lair animated movie, which ultimately didn’t get picked up. Bluth, Goldman, and Pomeroy are attached to the live-action film as producers alongside Reynolds, who remains committed to play Dirk the Daring.
Netflix hasn’t set a date for Dragon’s Lair, nor have any other roles been cast. But with a director in place, that may change soon.
