“I don’t want to see a movie about this game” One of the actors in this film still can’t get over his failure, if only it had been released after Baldur’s Gate 3…

News culture “I don’t want to see a movie about this game” One of the actors in this film still can’t get over his failure, if only it had been released after Baldur’s Gate 3…

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The growing success of Dungeons and Dragons

Since its founding in 1974, the tabletop role-playing game has been popular Dungeons and Dragons (Dungeons & Dragons in English) is enjoying increasing popularity among players, and is still extremely successful today. The game of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson has also been the subject of numerous adaptations over the years, be it in the form of novels, television series, spin-off board games, video games or even feature films. In recent years D&D has appeared frequently in popular culture, for example in the series Stranger Things from Netflixor in the webshow Critical role.

But it was not until 2000 that the first film adaptation of the tabletop role-playing game saw the light of day. Simply titled Dungeons and DragonsThis film tells the story of an empress who tries to achieve Savrille’s Staff defeat a dark wizard. She then hires two thieves to rescue him, but things don’t go as planned… Just like the reception of the film, which is now considered “one of the worst films of all time” Rich. And yet it benefited from sequels in 2005 and 2012, which were not much more successful, and even a reboot in 2023, which was a flop at the box office despite positive reviews…

A flop that could have been avoided

Of course we want to talk about that Dungeons and Dragons: Thieves’ Honor from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Spider-Man: Homecoming). With a 5-star cast including actors like Chris Pine (Star Trek: Into Darkness), Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and Furious), Justice Smith (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu), Regé-Jean Page (The Bridgerton Chronicles), and even Hugo Grant (Bridget Jones) and an effective and unpretentious screenplay, the film could have been a real hit.

Unfortunately, despite a budget of $150 million, the feature film only grossed just over $208 million at the worldwide box office, making a sequel impossible, or at least not possible on this scale. A fact that caused pain to the members of the cast, including Hugo Grantwho had a few words to say about the failure of the film during his interview with Vanity Fair :

“It’s a really good movie. For me, that’s the biggest mystery: why hasn’t anyone done market research before? I think that’s the root of the problem. Basically, people said to themselves, ‘I don’t want to see a movie about this game. Why hasn’t anyone asked the audience?'”

Hugh Grant, Vanity Fair

On this point Hugo Grant maybe not wrong. Dungeons and Dragons: Thieves’ Honor was released in spring 2023, and although the numerous delays might indicate that it came out too late, maybe he came out too earlyIn fact, the official launch of Baldur’s Gate III did not take place until August 2023, just a few months after the film’s theatrical release, and we all know that BG3 had little impact on the community. Who knows, maybe the thieves’ honor would have been restored if the producers had waited a few more weeks to release the film?