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

With a cinematic launch simply two months away, Paramount Footage has launched a recent action-packed and goofy-but-fun trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst 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 Amongst Thieves is ready within the vastly well-liked 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 once they run afoul of the improper folks.”

Mentioned charming thief is Elgin, a bard, who’s performed by Chris Pine. To defeat the evil that is been unleashed on this planet, he’ll want the energy of Holga, a barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez); braveness from Xenk (Regé-Jean Web page), a paladin; and magic due to Simon the Sorcerer (Justice Smith). Then there’s Doric (Sophia Lillis), a tiefling druid who can remodel 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 Purple Wizard of Thay, and Jason Wong as Dralas. Forged members from the D&D net sequence Vital Function (which spawned the animated sequence The Legend of Vox Machina) may even make cameo appearances.

Paramount Footage delighted D&D followers eventually 12 months’s San Diego Comedian-Con with a panel and the primary official trailer. That trailer, set to Led Zeppelin, leaned arduous into the humor and camp, which may definitely work in a fantasy journey setting. Grant likened the tone to Monty Python throughout final 12 months’s panel, however I famous on the time that the trailer additionally had “among the tacky irreverence of, say, A Knight’s Story.” I (nonetheless) think about {that a} good factor; it is in line with these casual moments of irreverence that one finds in an precise D&D marketing campaign.

That very same 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 is as a result of she has a plan: beating away the armed guards whereas Elgin… tries to chop by means of his rope-bound palms by rubbing them on some stone stairs, which are not practically sharp sufficient for the job.

As earlier than, we’re instructed that Elgin and his fellow thieves helped “the improper particular person steal the improper factor and unleash the best evil the world has ever identified.” Minimize to an evil personage that appears loads like Vecna, a traditional D&D character at present having fun with some mainstream fame due to Stranger Issues. However the celebration’s speedy formidable adversary appears to be the Purple Wizard of Thay. Xenk gives some backstory in regards to the Purple 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. These are good attributes to have when battling a Purple Wizard, an undead military, and varied magical creatures introduced forth by stated wizard.

We additionally be taught a bit extra about Elgin, specifically that he misplaced “all the pieces that ever mattered to me,” punctuated with a short glimpse of his spouse and daughter in happier occasions. So for him, “There’s worse issues than dying,” and he is decided to see the search by means of 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 supply help. “I do not need to see you die,” Forge says. “Which is why I will go away the room.”

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

Itemizing picture by YouTube/Paramount Footage