Amid controversy, Paramount casts a diversion spell with new Dungeons & Dragons trailer
Paramount cordially invites you to ignore the controversy and watch the new Dungeons & Dragonstrailer
Aux News Dungeons & Dragons
The world of Dungeons & Dragons rocked a little harder than usual over the weekend as a months-long controversy regarding the game’s licensing agreements spilled over onto Twitter. As the hashtag #BoycottDNDMovie circulated online, confusing those without a working knowledge of the games, its rules, and expansions, Paramount prepped a rebuttal: A new trailer free of that conversation.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hasn’t changed despite the controversy. In what still looks like a charming Chris Pine vehicle that gives modern fantasy a dose of Monty Python And The Holy Grail (as well as a heaping helping of Guardians Of The Galaxy for good measure), Honor Among Thieves is decidedly less thorny than the controversy. Still, with plenty of action, CGI, and Marvel-esque banter, there will be plenty for fans of the game to hate on its own merits.
That said, Dungeons & Dragons has had a heck of a time overcoming the last time someone tried to adapt one of the most influential tabletop games ever. And we thought making a good video game adaptation was tough. Thankfully, Honor Among Thieves looks more like Clue than Battleship.
For those interested, the controversy is over alleged changes to the games’ Open Game License (OGL), which allows third-party publishers to use elements from official Wizards Of The Coasts rulebooks for their content. As we reported over the weekend, Dungeons And Dragons executive producer Kyle Brink released a lengthy statement about the changes to the (OGL), hoping to deflect any damage to the brand ahead of one of the biggest mainstream crossovers in its history.
Still, if you ignore all that, the trailer looks like a blast. Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein know how to make a great gaming movie, seeing as they helmed the wonderful Game Night. Additionally, Daley famously starred in one of the best pieces of Dungeons And Dragons fanart: The Freaks And Geeks series finale, “Discos And Dragons.” We’ll see if those skills translate to this new feature.
Boycott or not, Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves rolls into theaters on March 31.
47 Comments
I am torn on this, on one hand, I love the actors, the energy, and what the trailer is selling.
On the other hand Fuck Hasbro, they knew what they were doing, and had feedback it wouldn’t go well, and decided to plow along anyway.
This is going to be interesting when it comes out as it might not be able to overcome the baggage attached to it.
I really think you overestimate the outrage. Always remember the internet is an echo chamber. For every player who was unhappy with the possible OGL changes there were ten who don’t even know what the OGL is.
That’s me, One of Ten!
Yup, Hogwarts Legacy proved the whiners are a tiny tiny minority of fuckheads.
And for every one boycotter who joined early with a depth of knowledge on the issue, there are 50 more hearing it in memes and social media chatter who like joining causes that punch up.
There was a lot of bandwagon jumping without really understanding what the issue even was.
Sounds pretty much like how the world works these days.
Not to mention that I’ve now read multiple legal analyses of the OGL (by actual lawyers) who say that the original OGL didn’t really grant you anything you didn’t already have the rights to do. It was basically a reputational smokescreen. Effectively it amounted to a pinky swear by WotC that they would play nice with the community.Never trust corporations.
The number of people outraged about the OGL enough to boycott a film wouldn’t amount to a rounding error in the film’s box office.
Didn’t I read over the weekend that they’d already backed down over this?
Yes, but they still need to be punished, apparently.
Interestingly, my other comment on the AV Club today related to the news that Chloe Fineman and Aubrey Plaza, inter alia, would be in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. Having seen the trailer for last Saturday’s SNL, I asked whether the two of them would be making out again. When I saw your comment, I wasn’t immediately clear which of my posts you were replying to.
I’m actually going to go see this in the theaters just to piss of the nerdy boycott contingent. I may even buy extra tickets out of spite.
They’re upset about Hasbro strangling small, independent creators for the sake of monopolizing content. The angry nerds are right this time.
I’m going in a Fuck Paizo shirt. The motto on the back? “We Sold Your Houserules Back to You.”
Looks great, can’t wait to see it.
That said, Dungeons & Dragons has had a heck of a time overcoming the last time someone tried to adapt one of the most influential tabletop games ever.
No one is worried that the general public is going to link this movie to that mess a generation ago.
For
those interested, the controversy is over alleged changes to the games’
Open Game License (OGL), which allows third-party publishers to use
elements from official Wizards Of The Coasts rulebooks for their
content.No, that is not the controversy. (Again. Come on, man.) Those terms are standard throughout the entertainment industry, so that someone doesn’t get sued for parallel creations. (Think the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit.)The issue is that the OGL was always promised to be irrevocable forever — straight from the mouths of multiple decades of WotC staff — and a whole industry grew up around it, including both companies producing material compatible with D&D and also entirely separate games that have nothing to do with D&D that use the license to license out their own work.WotC is attempting to do the equivalent of Chevy changing all of the standards on their vehicles, from the sizes of tires to how their windshield wipers take new blades, so that no third party company can produce goods that are compatible with their products, even if the company has had zero interest in creating the products the after-market has been selling for 20 years now.
Sure, that is whats they may have been trying but as many pointed out, no one ever needed the OGL in the first place anyways. You can put a copywrite in game rules. What’s weird is that people don’t realize that before 3rd edition and the OGL, third party companies were making D&D compatible books. Hell you could find adventures written to be compatible with multiple game systems. I got some old adventures that are D&D 2nd edition, Tunnel and Trolls and Rollmaster compatible.
“You can put a copywrite in game rules.”
What is a copywrite?
Mimics, magic missiles, and Led Zeppelin playing in the background. Yep, this is DnD alright.
And Displacer Beasts! And Owlbears! And overfed Dragons!
Not to mention gelatinous cubes!
That fat dragon is my favorite part. Instead of the player trying to seduce everything, I’d be the one who wants to hug the fat dragon.
Need more Cheetos dust, Mountain Dew and virginity
And the sound of someone rolling dice over and over again for no reason.
Random Monty Python Quotes and the movie grinding to a halt while the party decides what to order for dinner for an hour would really nail the authenticity
Paramount cordially invites you to ignore the controversy and watch the new Dungeons & DragonstrailerThere needs to be a space between Dragons and trailer.
The missing space seems to happen on every article at the switch from italics to plain text. I wonder if there’s some sort of software glitch.
I’m really trying to not get my hopes up, but this honestly looks great. Like I can picture a board state for all of those fight scenes. “I jump into the gelatinous cube” is exactly the sort of thing that would be a running joke in a D&D campaign.
Geez I would kill for some open matte :/
I’m in … Mrs. F. says she’s in … whenever it streams.
uggh. Those quips are later season The Big Bang Theory poor. Just add a laugh track and be done with it.
I see they’ve cast Hugh Grant as Hugh Grant. I’m in.
“Still, with plenty of action, CGI, and Marvel-esque banter, there will be plenty for fans of the game to hate on its own merits.”Ah yes, we definitely don’t want action, effects or levity in a (checks notes) Dungeons and Dragons movie.
Am I wrong to want a D&D movie that just takes place in a tavern, and the main character is the tavern owner who is constantly annoyed at all the adventurers wrecking the place?
D&D stands for Dark n Dirty, amiright? I mean that’s even BETTER than DC (Dark Comics) Grim and Gritty, isnt it?
If this isn’t a direct sequel to ‘Mazes and Monsters’, it will be a hard pass from me.
lol, as if 98% of the moviegoing public has any idea about wizards of the coast or whatever. i don’t the movie is going to suffer because D & D players are up in arms about hasbro. its like saying comic fans who didn’t like Gunn’s take on Drax could’ve somehow tanked GotG.not saying D & D players don’t have valid complaints, i just don’t see how releasing a movie trailer was somehow aimed to quiet them down.
Yeah, I can’t think of an outrage more likely to be ignored by the general public than this. As Ice-T said, it’s deep, deep, deep nerd shit
Anyone remember that dungeons and dragons movie with Marlon Wayans? I need to cast a “wish” spell to remove that from my memory.Still I love some D&D. I’d prefer a nice tv series though, get it right. Bring in Artemis fucking Entreri.
People are complaining that the owner of intellectual property is not as cool with them using that IP to make money for themselves as they used to be? Boo effing hoo.
In the sense that it’s costing a lot of us money and in some cases livelihoods, yes.
Just like restaurants should never rent, if you don’t own the thing you make money on, find another thing to make money on, or you will be forever vulnerable.
That’s the thing. We did own what we worked on. That was a big part of the appeal of the original OGL. You owned what you produced and whatever money you made was all yours. But the new OGL, by all appearances, gives Hasbro a retroactive claim on every 3rd party’s copyrighted material. That part of the new OGL may be unenforceable, and may be outright illegal. But for that to be determined a 3rd party is likely going to have to get into a protracted legal battle with Hasbro, and the handful of publishers with the resources to weather that ordeal are also the same handful of publishers that by all accounts Hasbro already met with and made special arrangements with by the time the new OGL leaked.Also, restaurants that own their location are also still vulnerable, just to things other than rent hikes.