D&D Movie/TV Guess the D&D Movie Opening Weekend Box Office Performance, and Win a Prize!

[Parmandur]

I enjoyed the movie and wish it had a bigger opening weekend - I want it to do well because I want a sequel. Not that this was a terrible opening weekend, but it does reveal the relative weakness of the brand in the public consciousness - everyone might know what D&D is in broad terms, but it is still a niche hobby that doesn't immediately shout "you need to see this!" to the average movie-goer.

It is interesting to compare this film's opening to what happens with the Super Mario movie. Both are based on popular game franchises and both are following much-maligned predecessor films. The D&D film had great early reviews and advanced screening, but will struggle to pass $40 million on its opening. The Super Mario movie only just lifted its embargo on early reactions (largely positive, but early reactions are basically always largely positive) and still doesn't have official reviews out, yet is tracking north of $125 million for this weekend. That's a brand!

Hopefully Honour Among Thieves garners enough to earn a sequel and builds a following through streaming services. It's a quality film, so I think it will get plenty of attention when folks can watch it for free at home.

I mean, Mario is one of the biggest brands on Earth.

 

[bedir than]

It's odd framing that beating the studio's expectations by ten percent is considered a failure.
Do people think the studio expected failure?

 

[Parmandur]

It's odd framing that beating the studio's expectations by ten percent is considered a failure.
Do people think the studio expected failure?

Yeah, all the trade magazines are treating this as a success, it's the D&D fans poo-pooing it...?

 

[Bolares]

I still have to wait until the 14th to see it, only comes out then in Brazil.

 

[Deset Gled]

It's odd framing that beating the studio's expectations by ten percent is considered a failure.
Do people think the studio expected failure?

I said it before as a joke, but I'm serious when I say that the media can report anything as a failure. World of Warcraft made $270 million in profit, 2.7 times it's budget, and it still got reported as a "flop". Box Office: 'Warcraft' Is A $430 Million Flop

On a similar note, here's an article from 2011 about how Return of the Jedi and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix are both economic failures: How Hollywood Accounting Can Make a $450 Million Movie 'Unprofitable'

Any time some one brings up "marketing costs", "studio expectations", or "other expenses", rest assured that the numbers are 100% made up.

 

[Clint_L]

It's odd framing that beating the studio's expectations by ten percent is considered a failure.
Do people think the studio expected failure?

It's complicated, and a lot to do with expectations. This was an extremely risky film for a studio to put that kind of money into, and it only happened because Hasbro underwrote half the cost. So it doesn't have to make as much as you might think for Paramount to make a profit, and for Hasbro this is partly about building up the D&D brand, so it is an investment in their future. Which is laudable! And for an unknown franchise (to the movie-going public) this is a good opening, even though it would be a disaster for, say, a Marvel movie (to put in context, Iron Man launched the MCU with a $98 million opening. In 2008. But superhero films were already an established genre at that point).

Launching a new film brand, especially for a relatively underserved genre, is hard to do. But if the film is good (and this one is), it can make money over time and create the conditions for more profitable sequels. So this film is mostly about the future.

 

[bedir than]

I said it before as a joke, but I'm serious when I say that the media can report anything as a failure. World of Warcraft made $270 million in profit, 2.7 times it's budget, and it still got reported as a "flop". Box Office: 'Warcraft' Is A $430 Million Flop

On a similar note, here's an article from 2011 about how Return of the Jedi and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix are both economic failures: How Hollywood Accounting Can Make a $450 Million Movie 'Unprofitable'

Any time some one brings up "marketing costs" or "studio expectations", rest assured that the numbers are 100% made up.

Sure!

I'm talking about the people here who are insisting that the movie has failed when it did better than what the studio expected it to do (per the studio leaks weeks prior).

That's not about Hollywood math. That's about D&D fans on this forum hating on things

 

[Undrave]

I mean, Mario is one of the biggest brands on Earth.

Mario is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. In fact, I still don’t understand why they felt the need to hire Chris Pratt to play Mario?! Mario is more popular than Chris Pratt! They didn’t need to pay Chris Pratt money to get more buzz on a MARIO movie?? The rest of the cast is more the range I would have went with. They’re well known but not MCU budget well known.

Next weekend is also Easter so that'll probably inflate numbers.

Yeah, all the trade magazines are treating this as a success, it's the D&D fans poo-pooing it...?

And there was a lot of tornados over the weekend and power outage, that can't have helped.

 

[Parmandur]

Mario is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. In fact, I still don’t understand why they felt the need to hire Chris Pratt to play Mario?! Mario is more popular than Chris Pratt! They didn’t need to pay Chris Pratt money to get more buzz on a MARIO movie?? The rest of the cast is more the range I would have went with. They’re well known but not MCU budget well known.

Next weekend is also Easter so that'll probably inflate numbers.

And there was a lot of tornados over the weekend and power outage, that can't have helped.

So, here's the thing about Nintendo: they care about the Japanese market first and foremost, and while they are happy to localize they are not that focused on it (Breath of the Wild's Japanese voice acting and writing are noticably better than the english localization). On the other hand, Illumination is big on celebrity stunt casting for cvoices. But, if you look at the Japanese voice cast before this upcoming movie, it's not goofy celebrity stunt casting: it's very cool veteran Anime voice actors. If Illumination was doing the English voice cast the same way that the Japanese side is being handled, people like the Critical Role crew would be in there instead of Chris Pratt.

 

[Parmandur]

I said it before as a joke, but I'm serious when I say that the media can report anything as a failure. World of Warcraft made $270 million in profit, 2.7 times it's budget, and it still got reported as a "flop". Box Office: 'Warcraft' Is A $430 Million Flop

On a similar note, here's an article from 2011 about how Return of the Jedi and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix are both economic failures: How Hollywood Accounting Can Make a $450 Million Movie 'Unprofitable'

Any time some one brings up "marketing costs", "studio expectations", or "other expenses", rest assured that the numbers are 100% made up.

Specifically about Warcraft: 2.7 times the budget is around breakeven territory for the studio, usually, not even using funny math because of the cuts theaters and distributors take. Usually, a movie can make it back thru merchandising and such, but Warcraft didn't inspire many viewers to go out and buy toys or whatever. Batman & Robin, as another wxample, actually made kids to stop buying Batman toys, so it lost WB money even though the film was profitable.in the face of it.

Honor Among Thieves, however, has cute chubby Lumpkin dragon plushies that are very attractive.