Has John Wick found competition in Dungeons & Dragons?
Keanu Reeves’ John Wick 4 is undoubtedly killing it at the box office. While a lot of times popular franchises tend to lose their original charm after a few sequels, John Wick is not one of them. The franchise reached new heights with each sequel and has kept fans glued thanks to its intense action and epic storylines. However, there is one film in theatres right now which has fans equally excited, if not more.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is the live-action adaptation of an extremely popular tabletop game of the same name and is directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. Given the popularity of the game that it is based on, fans were super excited to see how that world is brought to life with the film. With the reviews Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is receiving, it’s safe to say the film lived up to fans’ excitement. In its opening weekend, Dungeons & Dragons have officially kicked John Wick 4 to the second spot on the box office charts.
Dungeons & Dragons Dethrones John Wick 4
Dungeons & Dragons were released on Friday, March 31 in the United States. On its opening day, the film grossed $15.3 million at the domestic box office, including $5.6 million in preview screenings. It was played in a total of 3,855 venues around the country. As time goes by, Dungeons & Dragons are expected to touch about $40 million in total for its opening weekend.
Comparing it to John Wick 4, the Keanu Reeves starrer had a spectacular opening of $73.8 million and right now has made a total of $169.2 million worldwide. Since its release, John Wick 4 has been sitting at the top of box office charts but Dungeons & Dragons are changing some things around. John Wick 4 brought in a total of $7.8 million on Friday, as compared to Dungeons & Dragons’ $15.3 million. Over the weekend, Reeves’ film is expected to bring in $29 million which is a little less than Dungeons & Dragons’ prediction.
The film flaunts an incredible ensemble with Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Rege-Jean Page, Hugh Grant, and others.
Directors Talk about Dungeons & Dragons
Part of what makes the tabletop game so fun is that you have the liberty to sort of make things up as you go. This is why, directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein decided to make it a semi-adaptation, adding their own touch to the game. Daley told IndieWire,
“I guess it could be thought of as a semi-adaptation. We are adapting the world and the components of the world like spells, the creatures, the magic, but creating our own original story surrounding it.”
Like many players of the game, Goldstein got hooked on it in his younger days. He stated that he loves the creativity that goes into the game as “most games didn’t really allow for much of it.” And since the game has a lot of joyous memories attached to it for a lot of people, the team wanted to bring that essence into the film. The film became a comedy because they believed that being dead serious wouldn’t capture “the spirit of the games.” Goldstein continued that while there sure are “utterly joyless” campaigns, he wants to be as far away from them as possible.
With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 91%, it’s safe to say that Daley and Goldstein’s formula worked for the better!
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is currently in theatres.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
