‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Documentary Underway at Hasbro

Hasbro division Entertainment One is working on a documentary feature about Dungeons & Dragons, the famous roleplaying game.

The documentary, to match the game’s 50th anniversary in 2024, will draw on the game’s wizards and elves and archived Dungeons & Dragons footage dating back to the game’s creation in the mid-1970s.

Dungeons & Dragons writer Joe Manganiello will co-direct the project with Kyle Newman, while his brother Nick Manganiello, alongside Anthony Savini and Cecily Tyler, Hasbro president of Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming, will produce.

“As we approach 50 years of this incredible gaming universe, the time is right for an officially authorized telling of the game’s origins and current state of play to its passionate fanbase from all walks of life, and its global cultural impact,” Michael Lombardo, eOne’s head of global television, said in a statement. Tara Long, Geno McDermott, Jon Peterson, Adam F. Goldberg and Newman share the executive producer credits.

Hasbro and eOne additionally have a television series in the works. Derek Kolstad, the maker and writer behind the John Wick franchise, has been tapped to pen and develop a pitch for a live-action series in view of the Dungeons & Dragons universe. The eOne documentary is separate from another Dungeons & Dragons non-fiction feature that is underway from documentary studio XTR, with the title Role Players.

The Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game is known for its treasure hunts, camaraderie and reversals of fortune, all in a dream setting that joins humans, elves, orcs and hundreds of different creatures.

The commemorative documentary project at Hasbro arises as eOne extends its result of television projects in view of the toy giant’s properties, including legacy tabletop games for famous franchises like Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, as Hasbro plans to become an overall gaming powerhouse.

“We see a bright future for Dungeons & Dragons. And we only see these opportunities growing over time as we invest in an end-to-end brand blueprint for Dungeons & Dragons, including blockbuster films and streaming TV, AAA video games and a major consumer products push and significant marketing tie-ins,” newly installed Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks told Wall Street analysts last April.

News of the Dungeons & Dragons documentary likewise comes as the franchise shifts focus over to a significant theatrical release in March 2023 by means of Paramount Pictures, and follows a strategic investment by Hasbro to advance digital play with the acquisition of the Dungeons & Dragons toolset D&D Beyond for $146 million.