Back in February, it was revealed that director Chris Mckay was in negotiation to direct a new Dungeons & Dragons movie for Hasbro’s AllSpark Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Since then, there hasn’t been a lot of news to report on the project’s development with its release date set for 2021.

A recent report coming off from Production Weekly’s listings says that Dungeons & Dragons will begin principal photography in summer 2019. This is the first sign that the project is moving ahead and that director Mckay may have already signed a deal with the studio.

The script is being penned by Michael Gillio. Hasbro’s CEO Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis are producing the project.

The listings also mentioned Shari Hanson as a producer. for those unaware, Hanson has served as a visual effects producer for Paramount Pictures on many projects such as 2009’s Star Trek. She also worked along with J.J.Abrams on other movies like Mission Impossible III.

Dungeons & Dragons has been in pre-production since 2015 but the property was in the hands of Warner Bros. During the time actor Ansel Elgort was also reported to have been in early negotiations to play the lead in the movie. But a lawsuit battle between Sweetpea Entertainment and Hasbro over ownership of sequel rights delayed the project significantly and it never progressed beyond that.

Fortunately, in October 2017, Hasbro with its Allspark Pictures finalized its settlement and removed Warner Bros. out the picture by renewing an exclusive production deal with Paramount.

Elgort’s name has been mentioned in the Production Weekly listings as well. It’s unsure if the actor has been tapped again for the role.

Fans of McKay may be a tad disappointed as the director was expected to helm a Nightwing movie for Warner Bros. But if Dungeons & Dragons is moving forward, it could also be hinting that WB may have actually put the DC spinoff film on the backburner.

Dungeons & Dragons is set to release on July 23, 2021.

Source: Production Weekly