Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves new trailer and release date

Knights, elves, wizards, thieves and dragons abound in the latest film to adapt the fantasy board game for the big screen

From left, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Photo: Paramount Pictures

For fans of action adventure films, the wait will soon be over as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is due to be released in UAE cinemas on April 20.

Starring Chris Pine, Fast & Furious star Michelle Rodriguez, Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean Page and Hugh Grant, the recently released trailers and movie clips promise a rip-roaring old-school Hollywood adventure featuring fantastical animals, portal travel, hilarious one liners and plenty of dragons, of course.

The film takes its name from the popular fantasy role-playing board game Dungeons & Dragons, which received a boost in popularity in recent years thanks to Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will playing it in Stranger Things.

So far, there have been three official Dungeons & Dragons movies: Dungeons and Dragons (2000), Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005) and Dungeons and Dragons 3: The Book of Vile Darkness (2012).

A total of three trailers for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves have been released.

What have we learnt from the trailers?

With Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love soundtracking the action, there’s no doubt there’ll be plenty of cool effects, quickfire banter and dragons.

After unleashing a great evil by accident, Pine's Edgin Darvis and his right-hand woman, barbarian Holga Kilgore (Rodriguez), set out to fix their bungle.

Putting together a team to undo their mistake, they recruit the magical Simon (Justice Smith), tiefling druid Doric (Sophia Lillis) and Xenk Yandar, a paladin played by a wonderfully deadpan Page, to fight a battle with the Red Wizards and their army of the undead.

There’s plenty of near-death experiences, such as when the gang get thrown into the dangerous Highsun Games, a feature of the Forgotten Realms by Grant’s villainous Forge, making for a fun Hunger Games-meets-The Maze Runner experience.

What does the film have to do with the game?

The movie has plenty to keep fans of the original game happy. It takes place in the popular Forgotten Realms campaign setting and features many characters from the role-playing game.

According to the game's description, each character is based on the “basic set of human classes”: Thief (Edgin), Fighter (Holga), Magic User (Simon) and Cleric (Xenk). The Companion Set, which introduced four optional classes for high-level characters includes the Druid (Doric) along with the Avenger, Paladin and Knight for Fighters.

Each member of Darvis's gang also represents the character ability scores from the game, with Holga representing Strength, Doric Dexterity, Xenk’s Intelligence, Simon Wisdom, and Darvis's Charisma.

When is the film out in the UAE?

The film was originally slated for release on March 30, just ahead of the international release date of March 31. However, the film has been pushed back until after Ramadan, with a new date of April 20.