Dungeons & Dragons Movie Delayed Until 2022 Due to Coronavirus

Paramount Pictures has delayed the release of a planned Dungeons & Dragons movie until 2022. Paramount quietly announced the move earlier today along with several other delays, all of which are due to ongoing studio closures and filming delays related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Dungeons & Dragons was originally set to be released on November 19, 2021 and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the co-writers of Horrible Bosses and Spider-Man Homecoming, and the directors of Game Night. The film will now be released on May 27, 2022, right in the middle of blockbuster season.

Last year, ComicBook.com reported on early script details about the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie, which involved the legendary Eye of Vecna artifact, and the dragon Palarandusk. Although other details were scant about the movie, Palarandusk's involvement hints that the movie will take place in the Forgotten Realms, the best known setting of the legendary tabletop game. Since our initial report, Daley and Goldstein have taken over scriptwriting duties, so it remains to be seen how much of these early details will make it into the finished movie. No casting has been announced, but Paramount is reportedly looking for an A-list star to play the lead role, and become the face of a possible movie franchise.

Although Dungeons & Dragons is best known as the pregenitor of the fantasy tabletop game genre, it also has nearly 50 years of lore ripe for a Hollywood adaptation. The game is home to multiple worlds, each of which has its own set of heroes, villains, deities, and epic storylines. With tons of books, video games, and sourcebooks, there is plenty of material for an entire franchise worth of TV shows or movies, if fans can overlook the three much-derided movies that were released in the early 2000s. Thanks to the game's current Fifth Edition ruleset, Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever, and many Hollywood executives and stars are open D&D players. The game has also received frequent callouts in popular pop culture hits like Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory.