Honor Among Thieves

An unnamed Dungeons & Dragons movie is currently in planning and rumored to be set in the Forgotten Realms.

Warner Bros.
Following a lawsuit over the rights to a D&D movie and months of negotiation between Hasbro's Allspark Pictures, Warner Bros., and Sweet Pea Entertainment, it was announced on August 3, 2015, that plans were underway to make another movie based on the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Furthermore, it was to be set in the popular and long-running Forgotten Realms campaign setting. According to Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros., "We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen. This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property."

It had a screenplay written by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans, The Conjuring 2). At the time, it was to be produced by Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment (The Lego Movie, How to Train Your Dragon), together with Hasbro's chief executive Brian Goldner and chief content officer Stephen Davis; and Courtney Solomon (known for the original Dungeons & Dragons in 2000) and Allan Zeman of Sweetpea Entertainment. It was to be produced at Warner Bros. studios, which was behind such fantasy works as Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans, the Harry Potter series, The Hobbit trilogy, and 300: Rise of an Empire. John Middleton of Vertigo and Allan Zeman were later reported to be executive producers. According to The Tracking Board on March 31 and Variety on May 13, Rob Letterman (Gulliver's Travels, Goosebumps) was later confirmed to direct the D&D movie for Warner Bros. after a successful presentation to executives.

Nevertheless, commentators at Collider and io9, as well as fan Entromancer at the Candlekeep forum, expected that the success or failure of the Warcraft movie would decide whether Warner Bros. would indeed go ahead with the movie. Although receiving negative reviews and having poor performance in the US box office, Warcraft did extremely well internationally.

According to rumor, producers were looking for an actor like Vin Diesel, a well-known D&D fan himself. On June 27, 2016, it was reported that Ansel Elgort (The Divergent Series, The Fault in Our Stars, Baby Driver) was in early talks to star in the D&D movie.

On April 7, 2017, Joe Manganiello revealed that he had co-written a draft script with friend John Cassel and was discussing it with Wizards of the Coast and "talking to all the right parties". However, this was based on Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, a novel for the Dragonlance D&D setting, not for Forgotten Realms.

Paramount
After a long period with little news, on December 18, 2017, Paramount Pictures suddenly announced a Dungeons & Dragons movie to be released on July 23, 2021. This was alongside other movies based on other Hasbro properties, including G.I. Joe, Micronauts, and one other, as part of a Hasbro-based shared universe with Hasbro's Allspark Pictures. Warner Bros., meanwhile, confirmed it was no longer developing a Dungeons & Dragons movie. It is unknown if this is the same project as in the above reports or outlined below.

On February 20, 2018, Variety reported as an exclusive that Chris McKay (director of The Lego Batman Movie and the upcoming Nightwing) was in negotiations to direct the D&D movie. Furthermore, it would be produced by Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro, and scripted by Michael Gillio. On March 8, 2018, Omega Underground reported that Paramount was considering filming in the United Kingdom.

After a long period without news, on November 2, 2018, it was reported that principal photography was set to begin in summer of 2019. This suggested that McKay had signed a deal. Furthermore, Shari Hanson (a visual effects producer for many Paramount movies) was added as a producer. Ansel Elgort was mentioned again, but it is unclear if he is still included.

On March 12, 2019, it was reported that a new script had been submitted by Gillio, and that Paramount was so satisfied that, while final revisions were being made, they would begin looking for a new lead actor, whom they would attempt to select from a shortlist of ten A-listers, naming Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Johnny Depp, Vin Diesel, Joel Edgerton, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Chris Pratt, Jeremy Renner and Will Smith as their targets.

On July 30, 2019, Variety reported that Chris McKay had moved on to focus on another movie and been replaced as director of the D&D movie by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who'd recently left The Flash movie. Goldstein and Daley previously directed Game Night and co-wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming. Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro are still understood to be producing, with the script from Michael Gillio.

On November 27, 2019, Comicbook.com exclusively reported on the movie's plot elements (see Story, below), giving character names and details that tallied with the earlier Tracking Board and Ain't It Cool News reports pertaining to the Warner Bros. project. It also revealed the iconic Eye of Vecna (of the Greyhawk campaign setting) is the target of a quest, mentioned the Triadic knights are involved, and that a male actor was sought to voice the dragon Palarandusk—the latter two confirming the movie is set in the Realms. It reiterated Zeman and Middleton as executive producers, Goldstein and Daley as directors, and Johnson and Beer as script-writers. The article also speculates about future tie-ins and how the movie is incorporating classic D&D source material to appeal to fans. Two days later, on the 29th, a source told wegotthiscovered.com that Goldstein and Daley were trying to get Zac Efron to play as an important character named Malanthius, a big but not leading role.

Eventually, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic causing studio closures and filming delays and difficulties, on April 24, 2020, Comicbook.com reported that the Dungeons & Dragons would be delayed, moving from November 19, 2021, to May 27, 2022, though this would put it in the middle of blockbuster movie season. It also noted Goldstein and Daley had taken over scriptwriting. On May 7, 2020, it was reported that Jeremy Latcham, a producer of several movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, had signed on with Hasbro's Entertainment One (eOne) studio and would work on the Dungeons & Dragons movie. On May 28, 2020, The Hollywood Reporter published an interview with Goldstein and Daley, in which they discussed how the pandemic lockdown affected their plans for the D&D movie, among other things. Their plans to scout locations in the United Kingdom in March were curtailed by the shutdown of travel, and they wrote the second draft while in isolation, while large crowd scenes were being reconsidered. Goldstein said "We want it to be fun. It's not an out-and-out comedy, but it is an action-fantasy movie with a lot of comedic elements and characters we hope people will really get into and enjoy watching their adventures." while Daley said "D&D is such a unique look at the fantasy genre where it is contemporary in terms of the people playing it and the way they speak to each other. So we never wanted to spoof the genre of fantasy or take the piss out of it. But we did want to find another way into it that we hadn't necessarily seen before. Just the format of Dungeons & Dragons is so interesting and fun and all about critical thinking and thinking on your feet and figuring out ways to make things work after they fall flat. There's a lot of the spirit of that that we're trying to inject into the movie itself."

Both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline reported on December 14 that Chris Pine, a star of movies like Star Trek and Wonder Woman, was in negotiations to star in the D&D movie. Deadline added that it was planned to begin filming in Belfast in the first quarter of 2021. Later, on February 8, 2021, both added that Michelle Rodriguez, of the Fast & Furious and Resident Movies among others, and Justice Smith, of Detective Pikachu and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, had also closed deals to star in the movie, while Chris Pine seems confirmed. Regé-Jean Page of Bridgerton and Mortal Engines was added a week later, on February 16. Hugh Grant, star of countless films, and Sophia Lillis were later reported to have joined the film, as an exclusive from Deadline on March 2nd. Grant was stated to be playing a villainous role.

Story
In an interview with Collider at DICE 2016, Roy Lee suggested the Warner Bros. movie would be an ensemble picture, having a group of main characters, and that it would have an adventurous feel, commenting that "This new Dungeons & Dragons will be a Guardians of the Galaxy–tone movie in a Tolkien-like universe. Because when you think of all the Hobbit movies and The Lord of the Rings, they have an earnestness to them, and to see something fun, a Raiders romp inside that world, I feel is something the audience has not seen before." Lee expected the movie to move forward swiftly, expecting it to be greenlit in 2016. Of Warner Bros., he said "I believe they see Dungeons & Dragons as something that could be cultivated as a multi-universe movie where there will be spinoffs from the first movie being in Forgotten Realms and subsequent movies being in different worlds." He also promised that the movie would be going deep into the source material, and that the writer and others were all long-term D&D fans: "everyone who's involved with it now, especially the writer of the first draft is a fan from the very beginning starting with Chainmail, which turned into Dungeons & Dragons, so you'll see things that are very faithful to the source material as well as new elements are being incorporated with help from Wizards of the Coast, who are giving a lot of input on the script." He revealed the movie would be entirely set within the Forgotten Realms, with the Yawning Portal Inn being a prominent feature and set piece of the movie.

The Tracking Board reported that the movie would be an action-adventure based around a warrior and a band of creatures including a cunning gnome and a half-dragon on a perilous quest to find a mythical treasure. Furthermore, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News claimed to have seen a first draft of the script, which had since been rewritten by David Leslie Johnson. The movie was apparently named Dungeons & Dragons: The Hand of Chaos, and was an "object quest–style D&D story", described as more like Indiana Jones than Warcraft, with competitors and traitors, magic and monsters. Characters are said to include Raven Hightower, a man with long hair, beard, and dark sunken eyes with a flaming sword; a gnome cutpurse, a bald warlock, and a half-dragon, possibly fighting a gnoll at some point. Incidentally, The Hand of Chaos shares a name with a non-D&D fantasy novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, noted writers of the Dragonlance D&D setting.

Comicbook.com reported the movie will be based around a quest for the Eye of Vecna and include the dragon Palarandusk as leader of a group of Triadic knights, and gave other details corroborating those above. The named characters are those listed below:

Protagonist adventurers in the movie are rumored to be: Villains are said to be:
 * Raven Hightower, a warrior with a flaming sword,  described as having long hair, beard, and dark sunken eyes.  He and his sister were once slaves of Razer Horlbar, and he is haunted by his sister's death.
 * Olivan Trickfoot, a cunning gnome thief.
 * Hack Karroway, a half-dragon.
 * Alyssa Steelsong, a masked warrior set to take Palarandusk's place after his death.
 * Malanthius, a mage and potential ally of the main characters.
 * Razer Horlbar, a male drow who once enslaved Raven and his sister.
 * Damala, a female tiefling.
 * The Beast, a brutish warrior.
 * A bald warlock