'Dungeons & Dragons' takes its game to the movie theaters
With John Wick having made a gritty mark at last weekend's box office, this weekend brings a contender (based on a venerable fantasy game) ready to roll for initiative.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) is an expensive production based on the decades-old dice-based role-playing game, and it will look to start collecting against production costs of $150M with a strong rollout in 3,850 domestic theaters.
The film, made in conjunction with Hasbro's (HAS) eOne, drew $5.6M in Thursday previews, suggesting it may be tracking toward an opening on the higher side of a $30M-$40M range.
That could give it a run at dethroning John Wick: Chapter 4 (NYSE:LGF.A) (NYSE:LGF.B), which hit $73.5M in last week's opening weekend in an era when top films often shed 50% of their opening take in the second week.
And despite what might seem like limited subject interest -- not many people play Dungeons & Dragons into adulthood -- the film has drawn strong reviews and word of mouth since a premiere of the film at Austin's SXSW festival.
It's competing with an expanded release of Zach Braff's drama A Good Person (United Artists/AMZN), and crime drama A Thousand and One (CMCSA).
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