There is a new Dungeons & Dragons that just came out. Note that we said "new".

Apparently, there already was a D&D movie, which was released all the way back in 2000. It starred Jeremy Irons, Marlon Wayans, and Thora Birch of "American Beauty" fame. No, we haven't seen it. No, you haven't seen it either, unless you're a glutton for punishment. (If you really want to hear the details of the film's absurdity, there is a nice rundown on The Ringer website.)

The original D&D film was the brainchild of Courtney Solomon. If you haven't heard of him, you're not alone. Back in 1990, at the age of 19, this Canadian Jew with no film experience somehow begged his way into owning the IP rights. Originally, it was supposed to be a major Hollywood studio film, with names like Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron considered to direct. When Solomon couldn't get Coppola or Cameron, he settled on the next best option: himself. The results were predictably terrible. At the time, it was considered a huge box office bomb. Today, few remember that the movie existed.

But exist it did! It even spawned two direct-to-video sequels, in 2005 and 2011. Solomon was listed as attached on the former, but not the latter. He has spent the last two decades earning producer credits on movies you haven't heard of. But, yeah, he directed a Dungeons & Dragons movie. Not the new one.