Fun seems to be on the menu when Paramount releases Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and the latest trailer showcases the humorous tone set by the actors and directors, which will also be balanced by impressive creature design and visuals. This shouldn’t be too surprising. Co-directors John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein have a comedic past (as they talked about in our exclusive interview) and have added the right amount of humor to their script “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, one of the best films in our rating. of all the Spider-Man movies ever released. But it’s interesting to see them branching out into new intellectual property, and that seems like a perfectly valid approach to the Dungeons & Dragons story in 2023.
The first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves also talks about the classic Led Zeppelin song “Whole Lotta Love” from the band’s debut album, and if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. This driving melody with a heavy background beat perfectly matches the action in the new Dungeons & Dragons trailer — an action that Chris Pine claims is inspired by the Jackie Chan movement. Chan is not who I think of when I play with Chris Pine in a D&D movie, but my mind is open to possibilities.
What impresses me the most about this new and more complete Dungeons & Dragons trailer is how the effects and creature design have been enhanced (no doubt because the effects studio had more time to refine them). And it’s not just a standard dragon or a furry beast. At some point, a barrel opens with razor-sharp teeth and a long tongue chasing Michelle Rodriguez. The main villain depicted above seems to command an undead army and wields the power of witchcraft that conjures up some mythical beasts. It all looks much more creative than I expected. And that’s great.
But we’ve always known that Paramount has a lot of faith in the work that John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein are doing. They brought Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves to Comic-Con in San Diego for a panel and an extensive interactive exhibition at the tavern that allowed fans to immerse themselves in the world of the game. In addition, it was recently confirmed that the film will be shown at the SXSW Austin Film Festival in March, shedding an even brighter light on what Paramount is probably hoping will be the launch of a fantasy franchise.
However, Dungeons & Dragons will enter a crowded market as there are so many blockbusters coming out in 2023 that want to make a splash after the uncertainty of the last few years. By the time D&D opens on March 31, cinemas will already be attracting crowds with the films “John Wick: Chapter 4”, “Shazam: Rage of the Gods”, “65” and “Scream VI”. There are plenty of options this year, so keep an eye on our guide to upcoming 2023 movies to stay up to date.
