News culture The failure of Dungeons & Dragons in the cinema was predictable for Hugh Grant, especially before Baldur’s Gate 3
Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor was a nice surprise for me, but also for thousands of people who enjoyed this adaptation of the famous role-playing game. However, this film was a complete failure at the box office. There are several reasons for this. For actor Hugh Grant, this flop was predictable.
An unfair failure at the box office
At the same time, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor of Thieves was an international box office success that spawned several sequels, which in turn formed the b asis of a D&D film universe. For us, It was a failure during its theatrical release, grossing only $200 million against a budget (excluding marketing costs) of $150 million.
The film, directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, received a score of 91% from critics and 93% from audiences on RottenTomatoes. Unfortunately, This crucial referendum did not bring people to the cinemas, resulting in ticket sales falling well below Hollywood experts’ forecasts. If the theatrical sequel projects are dead and buried, a spin-off series is currently in development for the Paramount SVOD service.
A release date is to blame
During an interview that Hugh Grant gave to our colleagues from Vanity Fair as part of the advertising campaign for the horror thriller Heretic, The actor, who plays antagonist Forge Fitzwilliam, says he is proud to have worked on the project, but still doesn’t understand why it was produced, given its disappointing financial results at the box office. Even more dramatic: “Dungeons & Dragons: The Honor of Thieves” could have had a very different fate if it had been released in theaters just a few months later, in early August 2023. In fact, this film would then have benefited from the hype surrounding the video game Baldur’s Gate 3 filling the theaters, both of which are set in the D&D universe.
It’s such a good movie.
That’s the biggest mystery for me: why has no one ever done market research? I think that’s where it went wrong: people actually said they didn’t want a film about this game. Why didn’t we ask the audience? – (Hugh Grant)
Heretic will be released in French cinemas on December 4, 2024.
