D&D Movie/TV D&D Movie Hit or Flop?

[mamba]

The Venn diagram of people who want DnD and WotC to fail and those insisting that the movie was a “flop” or that it “bombed” seems to be a perfect circle.

I can tell you that it isn’t. The movie was a flop at the box office, that is just math. I do not want D&D or WotC to fail.

Me not wanting WotC to fail does not mean I have to distort reality, so a WotC flop can be called a success.

 

[ThrorII]

The Venn diagram of people who want DnD and WotC to fail and those insisting that the movie was a “flop” or that it “bombed” seems to be a perfect circle.

WotC has already stated that I'm not their target market anymore, so I really don't care if they fail or not.

That being said, I enjoyed the movie, and I stated it was a critical success. Stating the obvious, that it lost between $100 and $150 million, and observing that a movie that looses over $100 million at the box office is not a success (and in fact a financial 'flop') does not make me a hater. It makes me a realist.

But you do you.

 

[Zardnaar]

Oh, fair enough.

There is a pretty big difference between, "This film did okay", "This film didn't do great", and "This film bombed at the box office and was a total disaster". It's more the latter that I'm looking at.

I haven't xalled it a bomb. I have called it a flop and its been reported as such.

I'm indifferent to WotC finances. I don't really xare either way in terms of their income.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I haven't xalled it a bomb. I have called it a flop and its been reported as such.

I'm indifferent to WotC finances. I don't really xare either way in terms of their income.

Twas neither in the end. It was not a big success at the box office as desired, but it did decent numbers, is getting many downloads, and most importantly, merch is selling very well,

 

[Aldarc]

My partner and I watched the movie for the first time the other day. Am I the only person here who thought the movie was bad? After we watched the movie, my partner said that they were glad that we didn't spend money going to see it in the theaters. Overall, we thought that it had some good moments (e.g., graveyard scene, chunky dragon) and some good performances (i.e., Hugh Grant) that were drowned out by a lot of mediocre and subpar performances, poor dialogue, and pacing issues. It reminded me a lot of my horrible time watching the Warcraft movie.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The movie has worked if it has helped to open doors in new sections of the market.

And the same characters could be used in a cartoon serie based in the movie.

 

[EthanSental]

My partner and I watched the movie for the first time the other day. Am I the only person here who thought the movie was bad? After we watched the movie, my partner said that they were glad that we didn't spend money going to see it in the theaters. Overall, we thought that it had some good moments (e.g., graveyard scene, chunky dragon) and some good performances (i.e., Hugh Grant) that were drowned out by a lot of mediocre and subpar performances, poor dialogue, and pacing issues. It reminded me a lot of my horrible time watching the Warcraft movie.

Nah, you might have just been in that’s 8-9% on rotten tomatoes that’s didn’t think it was “fresh”…no worries

Inside The Box Office Stamina Of ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’

As it lands on Digital, the film's directors explain how the Hollywood writers' strike has put a hold on any talk of a follow-up to one of the year's biggest box office hits.

www.forbes.com

The Forbes article seems to view the movie as critical and box offices success. I’m in the not a bomb or flop thought camp but using my normal metric of domestic clearing the production budget, I wouldnt say it was a financial success but the studio, directors, actors and WoTC might have other metrics they think made it successful and bridge that money gap.

 

[jerryrice4949]

My partner and I watched the movie for the first time the other day. Am I the only person here who thought the movie was bad? After we watched the movie, my partner said that they were glad that we didn't spend money going to see it in the theaters. Overall, we thought that it had some good moments (e.g., graveyard scene, chunky dragon) and some good performances (i.e., Hugh Grant) that were drowned out by a lot of mediocre and subpar performances, poor dialogue, and pacing issues. It reminded me a lot of my horrible time watching the Warcraft movie.

If I had to give the movie a letter grade it would be a B but I hear some of your complaints. I agree the pacing was a little off and some times it felt like too much dialog and too little action. Some elements such as the Holga- halfling love story were too silly and also slowed the pacing but overall it was a fun and entertaining movie that felt true to the spirit of D&D at least how my group plays.

 

[CommodoreKong]

New York Times has an article about Universal's VOD strategy, which includes Universal talking about how much some of their recent movies have made on VOD. Unfortunately it is paywalled but some relevant quotes here:

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Universal Pictures and its art-house sibling, Focus Features, set off alarm bells in Hollywood by ending the long-held practice of giving theaters an exclusive window of about 90 days to play new movies. Instead, their movies, which have since included “Jurassic World: Dominion,” “Belfast,” “Cocaine Bear” and “M3gan,” would become available for digital rental or purchase — at a higher price — after as little as 17 days.

For a change-phobic industry that still views the 1981 arrival of armrest cup holders as a major innovation, the introduction of the service, known as premium video on demand, prompted extensive hand-wringing. Filmmakers and theater owners worried that ticket buyers would be more reluctant to leave their sofas if they could see the same films on their TV sets or iPads just a couple of weeks later.

Universal’s competitors mostly stuck with the status quo.

But the willingness by Universal to experiment — to challenge the “this is how we’ve always done it” thinking — seems to have paid off. Universal has generated more than $1 billion in premium V.O.D. revenue in less than three years, while showing little-to-no decrease in ticket sales. In some cases, box-office sales even increased when films became available in homes, which Universal has decided is a side effect of premium V.O.D. advertising and word of mouth.

Universal charges as much as $25 to rent a film for 48 hours and $30 to buy it during its premium V.O.D. sales period. Those prices can drop to $6 and $20 in the later, traditional sales window.

About 80 percent of premium V.O.D. revenue goes to Universal, with sales platforms like iTunes and Google Play keeping most of the rest. (A small cut goes to theater chains like AMC Entertainment — grease to get them to agree to reduced exclusivity.) Ticket sales are typically split 50-50 with theaters.

Premium V.O.D. revenue is small compared with box-office sales. But it’s certainly not nothing.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has generated more than $75 million in premium V.O.D. revenue since May 16, Universal said. “Jurassic World: Dominion,” “The Croods: A New Age” and “Sing 2” each collected more than $50 million. Universal said 14 films, including “News of the World,” a period drama starring Tom Hanks, and “M3gan,” each had more than $25 million.

Films from Focus, including “Belfast” and “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” have generated roughly $5 million each. For some art films, a theatrical release has become valuable mostly as “a marketing tool” for premium V.O.D. rentals and purchases, according to Julia Alexander, the director of strategy at Parrot Analytics, a research firm.

The studio often decides that 17 days (three weekends) of theatrical exclusivity is enough. Sometimes, based on ticket sales, it allows for longer. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” played exclusively in theaters for 41 days.

“We have also taken back control of the decision of when to make our content available in the home, based on the most optimal timing for an individual film,” Mr. Levinsohn said. NBCUniversal said in January that revenue from its studios (both film and TV) increased 23 percent in 2022 from a year earlier, to $11.6 billion.

The top grossing movie of the year, Super Mario, made around $75 million during their higher priced "Premium" VOD period (looking at the current pricing it's still in their premium period). I'm guessing that's toward the high end of any films released so far this year given it's the top grossing movie at the box office.

It also talks again about the 50/50 split between theaters and movie studios and something I found interesting, Universal pays some of that money they make on premium VOD to theater chains for early release.

 

[bedir than]

New York Times has an article about Universal's VOD strategy, which includes Universal talking about how much some of their recent movies have made on VOD. Unfortunately it is paywalled but some relevant quotes here:






The top grossing movie of the year, Super Mario, made around $75 million during their higher priced "Premium" VOD period (looking at the current pricing it's still in their premium period). I'm guessing that's toward the high end of any films released so far this year given it's the top grossing movie at the box office.

It also talks again about the 50/50 split between theaters and movie studios and something I found interesting, Universal pays some of that money they make on premium VOD to theater chains for early release.

Paramount made 1.5 billion from direct to consumer last quarter, three times what they made in theaters.

Q2 will have all of the Honor Among Thieves data from them, except advertising, as they already reported that as 62 million