D&D Movie Delayed Until 2023
Trouble is brewing for the Dungeons & Dragons movie as production delays hit home, pushing the release date back another year to 2023.
The Dungeons & Dragons movie has been pushed back 10 months for a tentative release date of March 3, 2023–the news comes amid a slew of other release date changes from Paramount, including a delay to the upcoming new Star Trek and Missions Impossible 7 & 8.
The release date changes, which come to us via the Hollywood Reporter, are likely all due to current COVD-19 restrictions and the ever-shifting timeline of when theatres might open up–but they may not be the only factors in the works. According to past reports, the D&D movie was scheduled to begin production this spring in Belfast’s Titanic Studios:
“We already know next year will get off to a great start with Paramount Pictures having leased Titanic Studios as they prepare to shoot a new feature film, Dungeons & Dragons, here.”
No word on whether or not production has been delayed due to COVID or the current wave of violence hitting Ireland–indeed the movie may still be underway, especially given the likely heavy use of CGI effects, but the shift in timing does make waves for Hasbro/eOne’s plans for the release of a Dungeons & Dragons entertainment barrage.
Previously Hasbro had announced that eOne was working to develop multiple live-action D&D projects, with at least one in the works to launch shortly after the D&D movie hit theatres to capitalize on whatever success it might find.
And with the movie helmed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley of Spiderman: Homecoming fame, and with cast members Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, and Regé-Jean Page, things look about as good as they might ever look for a D&D movie, which has previously been about as hopeful as the Chicago Cubs’ World Series dreams. And yet.
Stranger things have happened. In fact Stranger Things is one of the big reasons that a D&D movie is happening in the first place; without the success of the 80’s paean/mystery/horror there might never have been a resurgence that led to the explosive reemergence of Dungeons & Dragons we’re currently embroiled in.
This marks the third big delay for the movie, which was originally scheduled to release in summer of this year (2021), though to hear the directing team tell the tale, significant work has been done to the script, including an overhaul of the characters. So there’s no telling if the previous cast list, which includes the Gold Dragon Palarandarusk, the Unseen Protector of the sword coast, who was previously slated to be one of the characters featured in the movie.
All we know now is that the Hand and Eye of Vecna are reportedly at the heart of the central quest in the Dungeons & Dragons movie, which leads us to wonder if anyone will be cutting off a hand or taking out an eye in the hopes of using the powerful artifacts. Whatever the case, we’ll have longer to wait now, and if, with strange aeons, even death may die, then perhaps the D&D movie might turn out to be good after all.
Happy Adventuring!
