By all accounts, Eragon should have been a fantasy blockbuster. Based on a wildly popular book series, set in a rich high fantasy world, and backed by 20th Century Fox with a respectable budget — the ingredients were there for success. But instead of launching a franchise, Eragon crashed and burned, leaving fans disappointed and critics unimpressed. So what went wrong? Was it the first-time director, the rushed pre-production, or simply the wrong creative team for such a massive undertaking? Whatever the reason, Eragon’s failure was so significant, it put dragon-centric movies on ice.