Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is off to a solid start at the box office, exceeding its opening weekend projections and blowing past the box office of the ill-fated Dungeons & Dragons movie released in 2000. It’s not totally clear how much it’ll make for the duration of its box office run, or even if it’ll be able to turn a profit, but there are five reasons it’s exceeding previous expectations and crushing the box office of the last attempt to make a Dungeons & Dragons movie.
Starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, and Hugh Grant, and directed by Game Night directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves earned $37.2 million in its opening week box office, blowing past the $7.2 million opening of the 2000 Dungeons & Dragons movie. In the week before its release, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was projected to earn 30-40 million, so its $37.2 million actual opening is at the upper end of that projection. Here’s why it performed so well and soared past the previous Dungeons & Dragons.
5 The Original Dungeons & Dragons Movie Was a Total Flop
The first thing to note about the original 2000 Dungeons & Dragons is that it completely flopped at the box office. It opened to just $7.2 million and went on to earn $15.4 million domestically with a $34 million global total. Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ $37.2 million opening weekend more than doubles Dungeons & Dragons‘ total domestic haul for its entire run, and Honor Among Thieves‘ $70.2 million global haul so far also more than doubles the $34 million global total the original 2000 Dungeons & Dragons earned over the course of its entire box office run.
Even adjusting for inflation Dungeons & Dragons‘ $34 million global haul from 2000 still only comes out to around $60 million in 2023 dollars, so Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves $70.2 million global total after its opening weekend already puts it solidly ahead of the last movie. It’s not clear how much more Honor Among Thieves will make in the remainder of its box office run, but since the 2000 Dungeons & Dragons is already in its rearview mirror, it may not be the best benchmark for box office success moving forward.
4 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Got REALLY Good Reviews
The original Dungeons & Dragons movie got notoriously bad reviews, earning just 10 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the audience score is an abysmal 19 percent. So, again, the first Dungeons & Dragons movie might not be the best goalpost, but it doesn’t matter anyway, since Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was extremely well reviewed, earning an excellent 91 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, beating the original by 81 points.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves isn’t only popular with critics, it also has an exceptional 92 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, beating the original’s 19 percent by 73 points. The original Dungeons & Dragons also earned a C+ CinemaScore, while Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves earned an A-. Audience scores, particularly CinemaScore, are often a good indicator of word of mouth after release, so they’ll likely have an even bigger impact on Honor Among Thieves‘ overall box office.
3 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Has a Far Better Cast Than The Original
The 2000 Dungeons & Dragons movie didn’t have the most star-studded cast, with Jeremy Irons and Marlon Wayans serving as the biggest names to the project. Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ cast is far more popular, starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, and Hugh Grant. It may not be an ensemble to rival Oceans 11, but many of the actors are well known with a history of box office success already.
Chris Pine, in particular, is a big stand-out and has achieved massive popularity over the years, starring in multiple successful blockbuster franchises including Star Trek and Wonder Woman. While Jeremy Irons is also an extremely popular actor who has been involved in a number of big blockbusters over the course of his career, he specializes in supporting characters and doesn’t get top billing, so his name alone isn’t a box office draw in the same way as Chris Pine. Michelle Rodriguez is also a bit of a box office draw thanks to her involvement in the Fast and Furious franchise.
2 The Marketing for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Was Surprisingly Fun
Dungeons & Dragons has a reputation as a punching bag in popular media over the decades, so there was some skepticism over the potential of a new movie, particularly after the bad reviews and box office flop of the first movie decades earlier. In mainstream pop culture, Dungeons & Dragons is seen as a niche geek activity, so for the marketing to successfully hit on more broad comedy quickly raised interest from the general audience.
The trailers weren’t only funny, but the action and visual effects also looked good. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein may not be widely known names yet, but their success with Game Night proved Honor Among Thieves had more potential than people realized.
1 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Has a Way Bigger Budget
One of the biggest reasons Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is performing so much better at the box office is because it has a way bigger budget. While bigger budgets don’t always result in better finished products, when spent properly they can mean bigger casts, better VFX, and more talented cast and crew, etc.. The 2000 Dungeons & Dragons movie was made for a budget of just $45 million, which is the equivalent of around $80 million in 2023 dollars. Plenty of great sci-fi or fantasy movies have similar or even smaller budgets, but it’s barely more than half of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves‘ $150 million budget.
Granted, a bigger budget means it needs a bigger box office to be profitable. The 2000 Dungeons & Dragons didn’t break even on its $45 million budget, so obviously it wasn’t profitable either, but following the break-even rule of thumb by multiplying Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves‘ $150 million budget by 2.5 to account for marketing and other expenses, it needs $450 million to make a profit. With a $70.2 million opening weekend, that seems like a steep hill, even with excellent reviews and solid word of mouth. A successful home/streaming release could help it turn an eventual profit, but box office alone may not be enough.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is clearly popular with those that have seen it and will likely be seen as a success in the long run, especially compared to the 2000 version of Dungeons & Dragons, although its $37.2 million domestic opening weekend is far below what it needs to make it a smashing hit at the box office. Even if it struggles to turn a profit, the fact that it earned such favorable reviews and exceeded opening weekend expectations means its soft opening at the box office shouldn’t be seen as an indictment of the movie’s quality, but an unfortunate consequence of a still-shaky theatrical market.
