The fantasy-comedy film Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has grossed has been the 10th highest-grossing film of the year, which seems great at first glance. As soon as you heard back in 2016 that this role-playing game adaptation would be making its way to movie theaters, you probably assumed that fans and anyone who favored the D&D cast which featured Hugh Grant, Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, and Michelle Rodriguez would be lining up to see this movie. However, it’s wrapping-up its run in movie theaters and the numbers aren’t so hot.
The chances of a movie receiving the sequel treatment all have to do with how well it performs at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo’s domestic box office numbers, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves did well during its opening weekend, bringing in $38.5 million. However, as the movie continued to play on the big screen it didn’t make as much, only ending its run with $93,054,502 domestically and $207 million+ when factoring in global intake on an alleged $150 million budget.
Well wait, $150 million budget is less than $207 million right? Perhaps this seems like good news at first glance, but this box office number might cost fans a sequel because of its underperformance. The reason is that theaters split intake with the movie studios. Different countries have rules about what percentage goes to the theater, and that percentage sometime changes depending on how long a movie has been out in theaters.
There’s also P&L, which is the money Paramount would have spent marketing the movie. It’s unclear how much the studio pushed the D&D-based flick, but with all of this in mind, it is clear they didn’t recoup the movie’s actual budget, much less the money spent on advertising.
It’s hard to know why the masses aren’t racing to see Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Despite its massive marketing through the movie’s trailers and its big Super Bowl spot and solid reviews, audiences might have turned away from the movie due to the title. Its connections to the tabletop role-playing game it’s based on could have had audiences believing this movie was tailored only toward D&D fans.
The truth is, though, you don’t have to be a Dungeons and Dragons fan to enjoy Honor Among Thieves. If you love fantasy, heists, and good-hearted humor, you’d likely love this movie. Plus, the movie meets all fans where they’re at, and doesn’t expect you to be a D&D expert. So, you can ignore the D&D connection and just watch the movie for the fantasy-adventure aspects of it.
Even though the new Dungeons and Dragons movie may have suffered a disheartening box office, the critics had very positive things to say about Honor Among Thieves — especially when it came to the stellar ensemble and the amazing practical effects. While there may have been Easter eggs for D&D fans, the comprehensible plot for those who’ve never played D&D was also a notable quality. One critic also noted that they loved the movie’s blend of light and dark where it’s like you’re watching something out of a Tolkien adaptation and then heading straight to The Princess Bride’s lightness. Honor Among Thieves also has a critical score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93% audience score. It appears those who saw the movie had an incredible experience watching it.
A Dungeons and Dragons sequel may not be in the cards anytime soon, but it doesn’t mean we’ll never see the Forgotten Realms again on screen. A spin-off series was ordered for Paramount+ that will consist of eight episodes with Red Notice’s Rawson Marshall Thurber acting as creator, writer, executive producer, and showrunner. This new series is said to “complement” the Honor Among Thieves side of the story. With this upcoming series and Honor Among Thieves being available to those with a Paramount+ subscription, this should increase this fantasy-heist film’s popularity.
What Honor Among Thieves co-producer Jeremy Latcham learned from his time producing Iron Man was not to count your chickens before they hatch — aka to just focus on this particular movie before thinking about a sequel. Unfortunately, the box office numbers don’t match the rave reviews the new Dungeons and Dragons received.
Considering the film industry today is made up of sequels and spin-offs, I personally don’t believe the Dungeons and Dragons realm will be completely kaput. We’ll have to wait and see, however.