NEW YORK (AP) – Riding terrific reviews and a strong word-of-mouth, the role playing game adaptation Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves opened with USD38.5 million in United States (US) and Canadian movie theatres over the weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday, stealing the top box-office perch from John Wick: Chapter 4.
The Paramount Pictures and eOne release appealed to more moviegoers than many expected a film based on a notoriously niche table top game to interest. Game Night directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley turned in a rollicking comic action-adventure, with a cast including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page and Hugh Grant, that’s bringing in ticket buyers less familiar with D&D.
Audiences gave Honor Among Thieves, which launched with a raucous opening-night premiere at SXSW, an A- CinemaScore. It scored 91 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
“We know how good our movie is,” said distribution chief for Paramount Chris Aronson. “I know it’s been said before, but I think opening to USD38-39 million is just the start. These kind of exits polls translate to playability.”
Dungeons & Dragons was also a big roll of the dice. The film, co-produced and co-financed by Paramount with eOne, which is owned by Hasbro, cost USD150 million to make. With a production cost like that, Dungeons & Dragons will be looking for sustained sales through April and similar success overseas to potentially kickstart a new franchise. It launched internationally with USD33 million.
“The challenge with this film is convincing everyone that this film is for you,” said Aronson. “Jonathan and John, these guys are really talented and great collaborators. We’re going to work more with them. Hopefully, this will be the start of a franchise.”
John Wick: Chapter 4, launched last weekend with a franchise-best USD73.5 million, slid to second place in its second weekend with USD28.2 million. While a sizeable dip, the assassin action film, starring Keanu Reeves, has already accrued USD122.8 million domestically and, after adding another USD35 million internationally over the weekend, USD245 million worldwide. Lionsgate has no shortage of plans for further expansion in the franchise.
Along with John Wick: Chapter 4, Creed III and Scream VI, Dungeons & Dragons adds to a string of well-received March releases that have surpassed box-office expectations and scored well with audiences. It’s a streak that Universal Pictures’ The Super Mario Bros. Movie will look to continue next weekend.
“While it may not be the highest grossing March ever, this is one of the best months of March for the industry in its history, coming off of three years of a pandemic-challenged marketplace,” said senior media analyst for data firm Comscore Paul Dergarabedian. “March is not the summer, but it’s sure felt like the summer, with hit after hit.”
Those film have helped push the 2023 box office well ahead of last year’s pace, up 28.7 per cent, according to David A Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research. Still, overall ticket sales aren’t yet up to pre-pandemic levels, trailing the 2017-2019 average by 28.8
per cent.
Games and toys are also proving to be dependable big-screen resources. Dungeons & Dragons will be followed this year by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and a new Transformers movie. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is expected to extend a rising trend for the once-derided video game adaptation.
Dungeons & Dragons had little competition from new releases. The drama His Only Son debuted with USD5.3 million. A V Rockwell’s Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize winner A Thousand and One, about a mother (Teyana Taylor) who kidnaps her son from foster care, opened with USD1.8 million at 926 theatres for Focus Features.
