Dungeons & Dragons Movie Reportedly Includes Classic D&D Monster

A new report from CinemaCon indicates that a classic monster will appear in the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie. Yesterday, Paramount released a sizzle reel at CinemaCon that included a first look at the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie. While we got some brief descriptions of the footage from established entertainment sites, a user at ENWorld, a prominent tabletop RPG forum, also was in the audience when the footage aired. The user gave a much more detailed rundown of the footage and additionally revealed that one scene included a displacer beast. This marks the first confirmation of any sort of "official" D&D monster appearing in the upcoming movie. You can read the full breakdown over at ENWorld, which notes that the movie has a distinctively "superhero" vibe.

The displacer beast is a monster unique to Dungeons & Dragons and resembles an six-legged panther with two tentacles extending from its back. The creature came from the feywild and has the ability to bend light to make it appear a foot or two away from where it actually is. The displacer beast made its first appearance alongside the beholder and blink dogs (its natural predator) in the very first expansion to Dungeons & Dragons back in 1975.

News that the displacer beast will make at least a brief appearance in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is great news for fans hoping that the movie will utilize more lore from the franchise. One of the major criticisms of the first Dungeons & Dragons movie is that it didn't use too many aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. While filmmakers strove to keep actual combat consistent with what appeared in the tabletop games, the first movie didn't use many D&D monsters outside of red and gold dragons and a beholder (which acted nothing like a beholder). With Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves set within the Forgotten Realms and set leaks indicating that at least one character is a tiefling, it seems like the new movie will feel much more like a D&D game than past attempts. 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will be released on March 3, 2023.