'Dungeons & Dragons' Looks Deliciously Batshit
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Do you think that being the best-selling RPG of all time entitles you to a worthy film adaptation? Think again. Despite its ubiquity in popular culture, Dungeons & Dragons has flopped on the big and small screen, with the 2000 film starring Jeremy Irons and Marlon Wayans taking the cruelest blow. As Roger Ebert wrote in his review: “Imagine an empire that is seen half the time in a fantasy world of ghoulish towers and turrets, castles and drawbridges, and half the time in the wooded area behind Sam's Club on the turnpike. . The sequels were made for television movies, while all three sequels were direct-to-video releases; they were also critical and commercial failures.
But the luck of Dungeons & Dragons is about to change. After a long fight over intellectual property rights, a new movie from Paramount Pictures arrives. Finally, the stars have finally aligned for the screen life of these two beloved games. And now that the brilliant Super Bowl trailer has arrived, we know a little more about the upcoming adventure. Primetime Spot is quick to reveal some big clues about the movie, including an excellent look at its big badness. The trailer confirms that the Red Wizards of Thay are the antagonists of the film, which will strike fear into any D&D fan. In the trailer, we see that this notorious villain has used an artifact to create an army of death that only the band of adventurers from the film can stop. Another day at the office, right?
You sold it already? Here's our full Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves review.
But first, what is Dungeons & Dragons ?
If you still need to be indoctrinated into D&D worship, we've got you covered. Released in 1974, D&D is a popular storytelling-based tabletop role-playing game with an open and cooperative structure. We promise it's not as confusing as it seems. As the official D&D site explains about the game:
Like fictional games, D&D is driven by imagination. It is about imagining a ruined castle in a dark forest and imagining how a fantasy adventurer might respond to the challenges the scene presents. In this fantasy world, the possibilities are endless. Unlike fictional games, D&D gives structure to the story, a way of determining the consequences of the adventurers' actions. Players roll dice to determine whether their attack hits or misses, and whether their character can scale cliffs, avoid being struck by magical lightning, or perform other dangerous tasks. Anything is possible, but dice make some things more likely than others.
A typical D&D game usually has four or five players, plus a Dungeon Master. Players select a race (such as halfling or human) and class (such as warrior or mage) from predefined categories for their character, then imagine their character's personality, appearance, and origin. Together, the characters form a party of adventurers who set off and work together to traverse the fictional landscape. To explore, travel, and fight, players roll a die, which determines the outcome of their actions. Dungeon Masters facilitate the game by acting as storytellers and arbitrators, and determining the outcome of the player's dice. The game has no real ending and no winner; some games last for months and years, and then become "campaigns".
© Paramount Pictures Dungeons & Dragons star Regé-Jean Page promises a star-studded fantasy epic that "will leave Dungeons & Dragons fans relieved."What will the Dungeons & Dragons movie be like ?
The official synopsis for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves reads:
A former harpist-turned-thief escapes from prison with his partner, a barbarian woman, and joins a talentless wizard and a new druid in their group in an attempt to rob a con man who stole all the loot from the thieves. behind bars and use it to install himself as Lord of Neverwinter. She was in league with a powerful Crimson Demon who was just a traitor.
The first trailer for Honor Among Thieves that you can see above is really good. The film has a classic D&D feel to it: an unlikely group of friends come together and travel through a fantasy landscape to achieve objectives and defeat the Big Bad. There's Zingers, the titular dragon, and Regé-Jean Page with an adorable monster-cleaning blade. By the way, the display bar seems to confirm the appearance of various monsters, including Mimics, Beholders, and Displacement Beasts.
If you're curious about the film's tone, Pine described it to Entertainment Tonight as a mix of Spinal Tap , The Princess Bride , and Game of Thrones ; he also said it was "poppy" and "truly '80s", with "bits of Goonies ". Hell! Director John Francis Daley echoed Pine's reading of the film, telling The Hollywood Reporter , "We never wanted to cheat or piss off the fantasy genre. But we wanted to find other ways to do it, that we hadn't seen before." . The Dungeons & Dragons format is very engaging and fun and critical thinking and our thinking and finding ways to make things work after we fail. There is a lot of passion that we try to create. in the movie itself."
Who plays a role?
Starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Regé-Jean Page, they expected the film to be "a welcome relief for Dungeons & Dragons fans everywhere" and "a breath of fresh air." Pine will play the poet Elgin, a runaway thief mentioned in the synopsis and de facto leader of the group; he described the character as "the ultimate party planner". Rodriguez plays her fellow barbarian, Holga, while Page appears as a paladin named Xenk.
As for the supporting characters, Justice Smith will play the wizard, Sophia Lillis will play the tiefling druid named Doric, and Jason Wong will play the unspecified character named Dralas. Hugh Grant will play the main villain of the story, Rogue Forge Fletcher. If Grant's performance in Paddington 2 is anything to go by, we suspect he's going to make a spectacular villain. D&D Tavern has given us our first official look at the cast:
Who is on the creative team?
Dungeons & Dragons will be directed by Game Night 's Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who also penned the script. If Game Night is anything to go by, D&D fans can expect equally adroit touches of humor and meta-references. Daley also has quite the D&D fame: during his time on Freaks & Geeks, he appeared in memorable scenes as a D&D junkie. Don't worry, diner fans: Daley promises the movie will be "a bunch of Easter eggs."
When does the Dungeons & Dragons movie come out ?
Although originally slated for an early March release, Paramount pushed the release date back four weeks, meaning the film is now scheduled for a March 31, 2023 release. With Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Also coming out of Quantumania in late February/early March, Paramount definitely made a move to give the D&D movie a clearer path.
Please watch this site for updates as we continue to learn more.
