Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is on course to open to a better-than-expected $40 million and win the weekend box office race.
The new Paramount and eOne film earned $15.3 million on Friday, including $5.6 million in previews this week, with $4.1 million in Thursday night showings and the rest from special early screenings of the week. The adventure epic expanded to a total of 3,855 locations on Friday morning, including a huge number of screens with a premium format.
Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Dungeons and Dragons is based on Hasbro’s influential role-playing game and features a star-packed cast led by Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head and Hugh Grant. The film comes together again Game Night helmers Goldstein and Daley, who directed from a script they wrote with Michael Gilio.
The film enjoyed stellar reviews and earned an A CinemaScore.
Paramount and eOne, which is owned by Hasbro, co-produced and co-financed the big-budget fantasy pic, which cost a reported $150 million to make before marketing. The film also launched in more than 50 overseas markets, including the UK, where eOne is distributing.
Dungeons and Dragons is based on the seminal tabletop game first published in 1974. The game has gone on to inspire books, TV shows, video games and movies — including New Line’s ill-fated 2000 pic — among other media. If everything will be ok, Honor to Thieves will launch a new film franchise for Paramount and eOne. And either way, it extends the generality DD universe for Hasbro.
Adapting games (whether video games or tabletop games) for the big screen is always tricky, but there have been notable success stories of late in the video game space, including Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and Sony’s Not on the mapwhich debuted last year to $44 million.
by Lionsgate John Wick: Chapter 4which debuted to a rousing $73.8 million last weekend, will fall to No. 2 in its sophomore outing with an estimated $29 million.
Paramount’s Scream VI and MGM Creed III will follow, while the new offering is based on faith His Only Sonfrom Angel Studios, looks to round out the top five with a $5 million opening from 1,920 theaters.
The weekend’s other new nationwide offering is Focus Features’ 2023 Sundance Film Festival entry One Thousand and Onewhich is on course to gross $1.7 million to $2 million from 926 locations.
April 1, 7:20 am Updated with revised grosses.
This story was originally published on March 31 at 7:43 am
