Roll for initiative
Dungeons & Dragons is yet another gaming franchise that’s making its way to the big screen, and this one has been a long time coming. Whispers of the film started back in 2013, when the battle for legal rights started, and pre-production started in 2017, when Hasbro officially announced that the movie was happening. After a delayed release date from 2021 due to the pandemic’s effect on production, the Dungeons & Dragons movie got pushed to 2023.
The newest update on the film comes from Wizards of the Coast’s D&D Direct Event, where it announced the project’s official title: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The logo was also unveiled, which draws heavily from the game’s branding.
Actors attached to Honor Among Thieves include Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, Sophia Lillis, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, and Regé-Jean Page. We don’t know yet what the plot of the movie will look like, but we do know that it’s being written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the duo known for directing the 2018 film Game Night.
Dungeons & Dragons has surged into the mainstream in recent years largely due to actual play podcasts — the most prominent among them being Critical Role and The Adventure Zone. Many of these shows, and other independent D&D-inspired projects, have branched out into other media like comic books, animated series, and even their own official Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings.
It was only a matter of time before mainstream Hollywood caught onto the trend, but as someone who fell down the D&D content rabbit hole a few years ago, I can only hope that they do the property justice when there have been so many incredible indie projects. If this Dungeons & Dragons movie gets the treatment that most other gaming properties get onscreen, I’m going to be pretty disappointed, to put it plainly.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is set to release in theaters on March 3, 2023.
