This took awhile to get going for me–the timing of the jokes felt off at first and the gobs of backstory couldn’t manage to make me care about the characters. But it found its stride when Justice Smith showed up, and later Regé-Jean Page (dang, that dude is handsome). There were a lot of clever little details and some surprisingly bold camerawork here and there. The portal heist was super clever. Ended up really liking it.
ya, in particular, i thought that shot of the tiefling moving through the portal into the wagon was splendid.
This’ll make money, i have no doubt about that. Will it be enough money? Eh…dunno. But i don’t think anyone making a DnD movie expected to have MCU numbers, so hopefully they’re satisfied with modest gains and can fund another one, cause I’m kinda jonesing for another forgotten realms movie now.
I think D&D just being a niche hobby that does not appeal to the general audience (at least not enough to pay for a movie ticket) killed this more than anything. I don’t think a bigger box office window would’ve helped.
Probably not at the current $130 million worldwide. Hasbro’s leadership seems hell-bent on making D&D a “multimedia property” so they might stick it out despite the dreary box office numbers, but I bet they pivot to some other scheme.
Yeah, I’m not sure. You may be right. I’m curious if there will be any stats that will help break it down between factors.
I guess it’ll mostly be a combination of CHA for getting people into the seats and CON for the property’s staying power overall. Though a bit of INT would certainly help in keeping it witty.
This movie’s THAC0 was always going to be around 14 or 15.
Where that acronym is probably something like THeater Actual Compensation above $0 or something.
Saw it to a mostly full theater on a rainy Saturday night with the daughter. We both loved it and want to take the Wife and see it again this weekend. Daughter described it as Guardians of the Dungeon Galaxy Dragons to which the wife said…I’m in! I think this thing will have some legs and be a good word of mouth film. Bring on the franchise!
I love you guys. I knew you’d come through on “stats.” :)
I think its legs (or lack thereof) have already proven out in week #2 when it dropped 63%. Hopefully it picks up some steam, but I doubt it, and I don’t think this is a start of the D&D cinematic universe. It’s too bad, as by the sound of things it’s basically about as good as you’d hope for, and manages to hit a nice balance of tones. Right amount of goofiness, action, and pathos.
I look forward to watching it at home. Which makes me part of the problem, I suppose.
I mean, the Warcraft movie had a comparable budget and made way more money than the D&D movie (especially in China, where D&D utterly flopped), and it was widely seen as a disappointing return that basically killed the prospects of a big new franchise.
So I’m not holding my breath.
I believe the margins for US vs international are vastly better for domestic ticket sales. I want to say about double (at least for China). Warcraft was a complete failure in the US market to the tune of 47 mil total and that is what killed a sequel. Plus it was craptacular :).
Yeah, as far as critical consensus, the difference between the two is fairly obvious. At least Hasbro/WotC/Paramount can say their movie wasn’t a complete dud on that front.
US studios get 25% of their China box office.
Saw this today with my uncle and loved it. He doesn’t know anything about D&D and still thought it was a good movie. I was very surprised how many D&D specifics were in it while still being palatable for those who don’t know anything about it. Loved the fan service tidbits too. This is also probably the most I’ve liked Hugh Grant before.
I watched this with my wife and we both enjoyed it. I do hope it gets a sequel. This is probably the best shot at D&D so far.
It’s about 50 to 60% in US. Man Mario is a juggernaut l. Bad timing on release, oh well.
No new movie yet but cinematic universe not dead yet, a show has been greenlit!
Same production team as the movie so holding out hope it will be good.
From that article:
and employs a signature multisided dice.
It’s just one clause in a much longer article but… a dice? And aren’t all dice, even d2s, multisided?
Pedantically, yes, but popularly as far back as the original D&D “multi-sided” was used to distinguish the various specialty polyhedral forms used in gaming from the six-sided dice everyone and their uncle knows about.
Now, a dice, that’s a paddlin’.
Something that hasn’t been noted, but since the pandemic China has basically shut its doors to most Hollywood films. It’s all about boosting their own domestic industry, as well as for cultural/nationalist reasons. So the China box office for Hollywood is no longer a guarantee, even with the small amount they would normally get.
I have a die that’s in the shape of a mobius strip. It’s a little predictable, though.