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 Middelton 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. However, it remained unknown whether the movie would be set in the Forgotten Realms or not; this rumor has yet to be repeated.

Story
In an interview with Collider at DICE 2016, Roy Lee suggested the Paramount 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.

Characters in the movie are rumored to be:
 * Raven Hightower, a warrior with a flaming sword, described as having long hair, beard, and dark sunken eyes.
 * A cunning gnome cutpurse
 * A bald warlock
 * A half-dragon

However, with the film changing hands completely since these rumors were published, it is unclear if any of this remains.