Dungeons & Dragons: honor among thieves has had his first turn at the theater box office.
The new Paramount and eOne film grossed a whopping $5.6 million in previews this week, including $4.1 million from Thursday night shows and the remainder from special screenings earlier in the week. The adventurous epic expands Friday morning to a total of 3,855 locations, including a plethora of premium-sized screens.
Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Dungeons and Dragons is based on Hasbro’s influential role-playing game and features an all-star cast led by Chris Pine, Michelle RodriguezRegé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lilis, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head and Hugh Grant. The movie comes back together Game night helmers Goldstein and Daley, who directed from a script they co-wrote with Michael Gilio.
Tracking suggests the movie is opening to a somewhat understated $30 million domestically, but many box office analysts believe that number will push higher thanks to great reviews and a strong response from early audiences praising the film’s clever sense of adventure and jovial spirit.
Hasbro-owned Paramount and eOne co-produced and funded the big-budget fantasy photo, which reportedly cost $150 million to make before marketing. The film will also launch in more than 50 overseas markets, including the UK, where eOne distributes.
Dungeons and Dragons is based on the groundbreaking table game first published in 1974. The game went on to inspire books, TV shows, video games and movies – including New Line’s ill-fated 2000 photo – among other media. If all goes well, Honor among thieves will launch a new movie franchise for Paramount and eOne. And anyway, it expands the whole thing D&D universe for Hasbro.
Adapting games (whether video games or tabletop games) for the big screen has always been tricky, but there have been notable success stories in the video game world lately, including Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and that of Sony Not chartedwhich debuted to $44 million last year.
Dungeons and Dragons, which made its world premiere at Austin’s South by Southwest festival earlier this month, is hoping to win the weekend box office race. However, doing this means crashing into Lionsgate John Wick: Chapter 4which debuted last weekend with a smashing $73.8 million and could earn $30 million or more in its second outing.