Film

Everything We Learned At The D&D Movie Comic-Con Panel

Chris Pine playing a lute, Hugh Grant in a fancy coat, and a character transforming into an “owlbear” – what more could you want from a movie trailer?

The first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves premiered at San Diego Comic-Con last night, following an incredibly fun panel that kicked off this year’s event in style.

The starry ensemble (which also includes Michelle Rodriguez, Rege Jean-Pag,e and Sophia Lillis) all appeared on the panel to tease the movie alongside directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who have form making films about live-action role playing games, having made the fantastic Game Night a few years back.

The panel kicked off with the cast sharing what they love about D&D, with Lillis (who plays the shape-shifting Druid Doric) proving to be the most enthusiastic. The actress revealed that she immersed herself in the games after learning the ropes via several role playing podcasts.

Paramount Pictures

But not all of the cast were as familiar – Rodriguez highlighted that Grant originally confused D&D with S&M, leading him to quip that he’s “been an enthusiastic dungeon master for years”. Blimey.

Other teases included Pine (who plays Elgin, a Bard) tantalisingly comparing the script to Spielberg, and the directors noting that the film will feature several characters from the 1980s animated series, brought to live action for the first time.

In addition to the trailer premiere, attendees at Hall H saw two unfinished clips. The first sees the team attempting to raise corpses from the dead, which was intercut with an epic dragon battle, while the second focuses on Grant’s villain Forge Fletcher, with closer looks at the monsters and gelatinous cubes teased in the trailer.

Before the panel ended with a trailer, the directors noted that they’d love to make “multiple films” in a D&D franchise. If the film is as good as this teaser looks, I don’t think is something anybody will have a problem with!

The trailer reveals that the movie will be a comedy-fueled heist adventure. It has already won praise from fans, with many agreeing that it captures the true chaos of a D&D campaign within a movie narrative, as Pine’s character does his best to assemble a team to pull off the mission.

This is exactly what the filmmakers were aiming for, as Goldstein told Entertainment Weekly: “It was important to us to have characters who reflect the kinds of characters that you have when you’re on a campaign in the game.

“You roll for the various characteristics and you don’t always roll a 20, and so our characters clearly roll four on certain aspects of their personalities.”

Paramount Pictures

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will hit UK cinemas on 2nd March 2023. Also arriving in spring next year are a range of new Hasbro launches tied to the movie.

This includes a collectable Gelatinous Cube, which comes with six inch character figures and a range of accessories from the movie. It’s available to pre-order here right now.

Hasbro are going to be launching a range of incredible new products throughout Comic-Con. Head here to find out more and pre-order the latest items announced.

Shop our range of D&D merchandise.

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Alistair Ryder

Alistair Ryder

Writer

Alistair is a culture journalist and lover of bad puns from Leeds. Subject yourself to his bad tweets by following him on Twitter @YesItsAlistair.