Paramount will release the 100-minute animated feature based on Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight (MSRP $19.95) direct-to-DVD on January 15th, 2008.  Based on the first novel in one of the most beloved fantasy series of modern times, the Dragonlance film has aroused considerable controversy in fan circles with some longtime DL devotees expressing distress at the quality of the animation in the pre-release trailer and the prospect of compressing the freewheeling 400+ page narrative of the original novel into a 100-minute animated film.

Animation veteran Will Meugniot directed the Dragonlance movie (see 'Will Meugniot to Direct Dragonlance'), which is rated 'PG-13' and has a topflight vocal cast including Kiefer Sutherland, Lucy Lawless, Michael Rosenbaum, and Michelle Trachtenberg.  Although the film was originally supposed to receive a theatrical release, a glut of animated films in theaters in 2007 dimmed that prospect, while the successful release of a number of animated direct-to-DVD features targeting niche audiences, such as Marvel's Avengers DVDs, demonstrated the validity of targeting a dedicated audience with a direct-to-DVD release.