March 2023 will be remembered as a great month for movie-goers. Not every blockbuster that hit the big screen was a massive success (I'm looking at you, David F. Sandberg's Shazam! Fury Of The Gods), but just about every weekend saw the release of a new critically acclaimed film that brought audiences to theaters – from the knockout punch that is Michael B. Jordan's Creed III, to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's slasher hit Scream VI, to the brilliant success of Chad Stahelski's John Wick: Chapter 4.
Released on the last day of the month, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein's Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was looked at this weekend to keep the good vibes going – and it's mostly succeeded with a solid opening and the domestic box office crown. Check out the full Top 10 below, and join me after for analysis.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Still Has A Long Way To Go Before It's Considered A Hit
Paramount Pictures and eOne (the movie and television production arm of Hasbro) took a big gamble on Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The fantasy role playing game on which the film is based has been popular for decades, going back to its creation in the mid-1970s, and the studios bet on that popularity by producing the blockbuster with a $150 million budget (per Variety). At present, it's not totally clear if that gamble has paid off, but at the very least the filmmakers can be excited that it has hit the high end of box office estimates that were reported last week.
On Friday morning, Deadline said the movie was looking at a start in the $30-40 million range, and that's exactly what it has done with The Numbers posting that it has made $38.5 million in its first three days. It ended up clearing John Wick: Chapter 4 quite easily (more on that below), and combined with the money that it has made overseas, its worldwide ticket sales presently total $71.5 million.
Opening under $40 million domestically means that Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is the fourth biggest opening of March – but it's also the fifth most successful debut of 2023 on the whole thus far (Peyton Reed's Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania holds the top spot, the Marvel blockbuster having made $106.1 million in its first Friday-to-Sunday back in February). The fantasy movie's position will obviously slip as we get deeper into the year and more big releases come out, but for right now it looks pretty damn good on paper.
Things most certainly look better than they did in 2000 when Courtney Solomon's Dungeons and Dragons (the first ever live-action D&D movie) hit theaters. The film was a notorious flop, getting smashed by critics before only making $7.2 million in its opening weekend. By the end of its theatrical run, it only made $33.8 million worldwide – and that's obviously a low bar that Honor Among Thieves has had zero issues stepping over.
What has almost certainly bolstered Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves at the box office is all of the positive chatter surrounding the release. The movie had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas last month, inspiring enthusiastic early reviews, and acclaim has not stopped pouring in since. It's not just a success among critics, however. The movie has a 93 percent Audience Score to pair with its 91 percent Critics Score on Rotten Tomatoes, and CinemaScore surveys resulted in an "A-" grade.
Positive word of mouth should keep Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in conversation in the coming weeks, and that will be important as it tries to demonstrate strong legs that ultimately make the expensive production profitable. The problem is that the film is going to be facing some extreme competition aiming for the same audience very soon: Universal Pictures will be releasing Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Wednesday, and that movie is definitely expecting to capture the attention of every person in the world under the age of 20 (and plenty of people over that age as well).
While Stumbling A Bit In Its Second Weekend, John Wick: Chapter 4 Has Already Surpassed $100 Million Domestically
Continuing the theme of mixed news in reviewing this Sunday's box office numbers, there are both negatives and positives to be seen in the latest returns for John Wick: Chapter 4. On the former front, the Keanu Reeves-led action movie definitely slipped in its second weekend – pulling in $28.2 million, which marks a 62 percent drop from the movie's franchise record-breaking opening. On the latter front, however, the film has crossed a major milestone, as it has eclipsed $100 million domestically and is nearing $250 million worldwide (it's made $244.9 globally thus far).
While the hit epic sequel has not yet set new highs for its series, it's well on its way. By the end of its time of the big screen in 2019, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum managed to make $171 million domestically and $327.2 million worldwide. John Wick: Chapter 4 may not end up surpassing those numbers by the time I write my box office column next Sunday, but I fully expect that we'll be declaring it the new franchise champion by mid-month.
Action fans will have to wait to see those particular headlines, but for now all attention will be focused on this upcoming weekend – which will see the release of not only the aforementioned The Super Mario Bros. Movie but also Ben Affleck's Nike-centric docudrama Air. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next weekend to read about the numbers that both movies put up domestically and internationally, and scope out our 2023 Movie Release Calendar to learn about all of the features that are heading both to theaters and streaming in the weeks and months ahead.
