James Bobin is going from singing green frogs to fire-breathing green dragons.
The director of Disney’s The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted is in talks to tackle Dragon’s Lair, Netflix’s adaptation of one of the most iconic arcade games from the early 1980s, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Ryan Reynolds is attached to star as well as produce the feature, which was first set up in 2020. Also producing are Roy Lee, via his Vertigo Entertainment, with Trevor Engelson of Underground. Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Jon Pomeroy are also producing.
Dragon’s Lair was, at one point, the most popular game in America. It hit the scene in 1983 and promised to revolutionize the arcade industry with its movie-style animation that hailed from Bluth, who would later go on to direct the animated movies An American Tail and All Dogs Go to Heaven, and its envelope-pushing technology that used LaserDisc to advance the story. Sadly, the tech and animated style didn’t take off beyond a certain time period, although it remains fondly remembered by a certain generation. (It even made an appearance in the ’80s-set Netflix series Stranger Things.)
The game’s plot centered on a knight named Dirk the Daring who must rescue the fetching Princess Daphne from the clutches of the evil dragon known as Singe and the wizard Mordroc.
The tone seems like a good fit for Bobin, who balanced comedy, puppetry, music and heart with the 2011 reboot of Muppets after making breaking out with the comedy series The Flight of the Conchords.
He directed 2019’s adventure movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold, tackled whimsy and later family fantasy with episodes of Disney series The Mysterious Benedict Society and Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
The InSneider first broke the news of Bobin’s involvement.