Chris Pine battles undead military in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer

With a cinematic launch simply two months away, Paramount Pictures has launched a contemporary action-packed and goofy-but-fun trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The trailer has already racked up greater than 8 million views on YouTube, which bodes effectively for the film’s field workplace reception.

As we have reported beforehand, Honor Among Thieves is ready within the massively standard Forgotten Realms marketing campaign setting. The movie’s official premise is brief and candy: “An enthralling thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a misplaced relic, however issues go dangerously awry after they run afoul of the incorrect folks.”

Said charming thief is Elgin, a bard, who’s performed by Chris Pine. To defeat the evil that is been unleashed on the planet, he’ll want the energy of Holga, a barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez); braveness from Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), a paladin; and magic because of Simon the Sorcerer (Justice Smith). Then there’s Doric (Sophia Lillis), a tiefling druid who can rework right into a ferocious owlbear, which turns out to be useful throughout a combat. Pine envisions himself because the “planner” of the group and the participant of the lute. The forged additionally stars Hugh Grant as Forge Fitzwilliam the Rogue, Daisy Head because the Red Wizard of Thay, and Jason Wong as Dralas. Cast members from the D&D net collection Critical Role (which spawned the animated collection The Legend of Vox Machina) may even make cameo appearances.

Paramount Pictures delighted D&D followers eventually yr’s San Diego Comic-Con with a panel and the primary official trailer. That trailer, set to Led Zeppelin, leaned laborious into the humor and camp, which might definitely work in a fantasy journey setting. Grant likened the tone to Monty Python throughout final yr’s panel, however I famous on the time that the trailer additionally had “a number of the tacky irreverence of, say, A Knight’s Tale.” I (nonetheless) contemplate {that a} good factor; it is consistent with these casual moments of irreverence that one finds in an precise D&D marketing campaign.

That similar tone is preserved on this newest trailer, which supplies us a bit extra details about the plot and showcases the colourful group dynamics—the important thing to any profitable marketing campaign. And, in fact, there are many Easter eggs for D&D gamers to find. The trailer opens with Holga and Elgin about to be executed. “OK, chop it off,” Holga says with outstanding equanimity. That’s as a result of she has a plan: beating away the armed guards whereas Elgin… tries to chop via his rope-bound fingers by rubbing them on some stone stairs, which are not practically sharp sufficient for the job.

As earlier than, we’re advised that Elgin and his fellow thieves helped “the incorrect individual steal the incorrect factor and unleash the best evil the world has ever recognized.” Cut to an evil personage that appears quite a bit like Vecna, a basic D&D character at the moment having fun with some mainstream fame because of Stranger Things. But the social gathering’s fast formidable adversary appears to be the Red Wizard of Thay. Xenk gives some backstory in regards to the Red Wizards, who created an undead military. Simon tries out a little bit of irony, which does not sit effectively with Xenk, who says, “I discover irony is a blade that cuts he who wields it and most particularly.” Xenk is clearly the group killjoy, however he is additionally impressively competent and fearless. Those are good attributes to have when battling a Red Wizard, an undead military, and varied magical creatures introduced forth by stated wizard.

We additionally study a bit extra about Elgin, particularly that he misplaced “all the pieces that ever mattered to me,” punctuated with a quick glimpse of his spouse and daughter in happier instances. So for him, “There’s worse issues than dying,” and he is decided to see the search via to the top as a result of in any other case, what was all that sacrifice for? Elgin does discover himself in a good spot at one level, and Forge is not prone to provide help. “I do not wish to see you die,” Forge says. “Which is why I’m going to go away the room.”

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters on March 31, 2023, after debuting on the SXSW Film Festival on March 10. An eight-episode spinoff TV collection has already been ordered and is meant to be the cornerstone of a number of tasks that complement the movie.

Listing picture by YouTube/Paramount Pictures