Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Paramount and eOne Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has earned $5.6 million in previews. That’s not all of Thursday’s Showtimes (which started at 3pm) but includes pre-Amazon sneaks among other pre-screenings. Before Thursday, we were told Dungeons & Dragons made $1.5 million. While the popular RPG’s feature take has been hot by word of mouth (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and critics (89% confirmed fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), tracking has settled on the film 30 to 40 million dollars Domestic opening projection for $150M production (50% covered by eOne).
Paramount believed in this film so much that it screened the picture extensively and brought it to SXSW where the picture had its world premiere and was the opening title of the festival. Everyone is hoping the picture will be over-indexed this weekend, but it could be a slow burn for the film; It’s PG-13’s only new live-action fanboy choice heading into the Easter frame next weekend.
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
D&D wins a majority of Lionsgate’s prime venues John Wick: Chapter 4 this weekend. This movie had a hot week with $94.6M in 3,855 cinemas. If D&D underperforms, will John Wick 4 claim #1? Even if Keanu Reeves’ R-rated action pic falls 60%, it’ll see you 30 million dollars Opening.
Directed/written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, D&D also hits 58 offshore territories including the UK (distributed by eOne), Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Spain, with a view of $25M+. At the high-end, it’s a hopeful one $65 million global launch.
On the plus side, D&D’s $4.1 million Thursday ahead of Uncharted’s $3.7 million Thursday previews, also ahead of spring hits Kong: Skull Island ($3.7 million) and Mad Max: Fury Road ($3.7 million) and just below the $4.3 million Thursday of Paramount’s surprise spring 2018 genre hit, A Quiet Place, which opened at $50.2 million flew and grossed $188 million in the US, $340 million WW that spawned a franchise. Uncharted is a good complement to D&D here. This image was based on a popular Sony Playstation video game and started at $44M ended up at $148M US, $401.7M WW.
The five best films on Thursday:
1 John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters Thu $3.8M (-15% from Wednesday) Week $94.6M/Week 1
2 scream VI (par) 3,355 theaters, Thu $710 (-3%), week $11.4M/total $92.9M/week 3
3 Creed III (MGM/UAR) 3207 theaters, Thu $665K, week $11M, total $143.5M/week 4
4 Shazam Wrath of the Gods (NL) 4071 theaters, Thu $580,000 (-14%), week $12.2M/total $48.8M/week 2
5 dasara (CGX) 510 theaters, Thu $272,000 (-59%), week $939,000/week 1
Directed and written by Srikanth Odhela, the Indian feature film is set against the backdrop of the Singareni coal mines near Godavarikhani in Telangana. Watch the trailer below: