DRAGON'S LAIR: THE MOVIE Starts Crowdfunding Campaign

The budget for a modern animated movie starts in the neighborhood of $75 million, so the crowdfunding campaign for a movie version of video arcade game Dragon's Lair is not intended to raise that kind of money.

No, the intention here is to create a pitch video first in order to secure funding for the complete movie, which would revolve around a knight seeking to rescue a princess.

Filmmakers Don Bluth and Gary Goldman enjoyed good success in the 1980s and 1990s (The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven) but before the former Disney animators got their movies going, they created Dragon's Lair, which become available in arcades in 1983.

As an occasional player, I can testify that it looked great for its era, especially the spectacular, animated opening. After I dropped in my quarters and quickly saw all my knights die, I loved watching other people play for longer than 20 seconds. I'm not terribly surprised that the game continues in circulation as an app.

They're looking to raise a lot of money -- more than half a million dollars -- but good on them for giving this long-delayed project another shot. I'd love to see another one of their productions in theaters. You can head over to Kickstarter to watch their folksy campaign video.

[Hat tip: Dread Central].