Saturday AM: Though Friday was $15.3M, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is still looking at a $40M opening. This movie is coming in at the high-end of tracking, and that is to be commended for the Paramount/eOne $150M production. Hasbro controlled the IP, brought Paramount the movie, and agreed on the terms of financing at 50%.
Though not the most bedazzling start for a movie of that size, we need to remember the pandemic comp of Sony’s Uncharted, which cost $120M, opened to $44M, finaled at $148.6M U.S./Canada and did $401.7M worldwide. Sony was quick to call that a franchise start. The scores here are fantastic for D&D, with an A- CinemaScore (better than Uncharted‘s B+), 90% , 4 1/2 stars on ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak, with a 77% recommend. Kids under 12 gave it 85% positive, with a 51% definite recommend.
Can this go higher this weekend? Most sources believe $40M is the ceiling here for the Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Rege-Jean Page, and Sophia Lillis movie. Those buying their tickets day-of, indicating walk-up business, stood at 58%. By comparison, those who bought tickets to John Wick: Chapter 4 on its first Friday amounted to 55% of all moviegoers. Imax and PLFs are driving 36% of the weekend ticket sales to date for D&D.
courtesy Paramount Pictures.
Some rival distributors have snarked that this was a hard spot for D&D to go between John Wick: Chapter 4 and Universal/Illumination’s Super Mario Bros on the calendar. However, where else to program a film in 2023 as all these movies come out of the post-production logjam? For the month of April, it’s the marquee live-action PG-13 fanboy film outside of Super Mario Bros, three horror pics – The Pope’s Exorcist, Renfield, Evil Dead Rise, and female-skewing fare like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret — all before Disney/Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 arrives to steal all the cash.
Not to mention, this week, a third of all K-12 schools are off starting Monday, with 5% colleges off rising to 80% K-12 out, 31% colleges off on Good Friday. And you have Super Mario Bros opening on Wednesday. So by that measure, Paramount was getting out ahead with D&D, and you can’t blame them for that. Let’s wait and see what the multiple is on this John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein directed/written movie. We could be looking at a nice 4-day opening here.
Paramount definitely didn’t abandon this movie. Rather, it championed it to the sky with several screenings, all the while noticing its vibrant reception. This version of D&D is already leaps and bounds and light years ahead of New Line’s 2000 sour failure, which opened to $7.2M and finaled at $15.3M and a near $34M WW. Clearly, moviegoers prefer this feature adaptation of the role-playing game.
D&D was on a roll in the West, Mountain, and Midwest, but had solid numbers throughout the country. The AMC Burbank was the top-grossing venue, with close to $60K yesterday.
Some 61% of guys showed up to D&D, with men over 25 the biggest demo at 41% (85% grade), women over 25 at 27% (the best grade at 94%, can’t knock that Jean-Page), guys under 25 at 20% (92%), and women under 25 at 12% (also 92% grade). The 18-34 sect came out at 63%. Diversity demos were 48% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic and Latino, 10% Asian, and 8% Black.
All movies this weekend look to gross an estimated $100.6M, +21% over the same frame a year ago. We’re still rebounding. But we’re still off -27% from the same weekend in 2019, which grossed $137.8M, and that’s when Dumbo opened to $45.9M off a $170M budget.
Elsewhere, Angel Studios had the faith-based His Only Son opening at 1,920 theaters, with an estimated $2.1M Friday and an estimated $5.5M opening. No Rotten Tomatoes critics score, but the audience loved it at 95%. PostTrak clocked great exits as well, which is typical for these films, at 93% positive, 83% recommend. 65% female leaning, 66% over 45 — again, which is standard. Largest want-to-see was those over 55, who repped 46% of the crowd. Diversity demos were 56% Caucasian, 29% Latino and Hispanic, 7% Black, and 8% Asian/other. Circuits in the Bible belt did business, with the South and South Central standing out, yet with the top theater being in Lititz, PA.
Teyana Taylor and Aaron Kingsley in A Thousand and One
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Focus Features
Focus Features’ Sundance Grand Jury Prize dramatic winner, A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, looks to rank 7th place with a $700K Friday, $1.72M opening off 926 theaters and a near $1,9K per theater. For Focus post-pandemic, for a niche film like this, that’s a solid number, particularly in an arthouse marketplace which is in great need of resurging. It’s on par with Vengeance, which opened to $1.75M at 998 theaters, and it’s higher than, and a much better result than, their 2022 Sundance pick-up, Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul, which opened to $1.4M 3-day off twice the amount of theaters of 1,880 and a $756 theater average; that movie also going day-and-date on Peacock over Labor Day weekend. Great reviews and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively at 96% and 83%, with PostTrak exits lower at 76% positive, 63% definite recommend. Female-leaning at 65%, 61% between 18-34, with 25-34 year-olds the biggest quad at 33%. Diversity demos were 51% Black, 23% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, and 10% Asian/other. Pic’s best regions were the East and the South, with seven of the top ten theaters coming out of NYC.
Cinegalaxy’s Dasara in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil clocked $280K yesterday at 510 locations in 118 markets with solid numbers in Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin, for what looks to be a 3-day of $939K, 5-day of $1.8M.
The second weekend of MGM’s Zach Braff-directed movie, A Good Person, shoots up 157 theaters to 687 venues for $168K on Friday, -40%, and a 3-day of $557K (-33%) for a running total of $1.8M in weekend 2.
1.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $15.3M, 3-day $40M/Wk 1
2.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $7.85M (-73%), 3-day $28.3M (-62%), Total $122.9M/Wk 2
3.) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, 3-day $5.5M/Wk 1
4.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 (-380) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-35%), 3-day $5.2M (-36%), Total $148.8M/Wk 5
5.) Scream VI (Par) 3,106 theaters (-339), Fri $1.55M (-37%), 3-day $5.15M (-38%), Total $98M/Wk 4
6.) Shazam: Fury of the Gods 3,451 (-620) theaters, Fri $1.2M (-49%), 3 day $4.5M (-52%), Total $53.3M/Wk 3
7.) A Thousand and One (Foc) 926 theaters, Fri $700K, 3-day $1.72M/Wk 1
8.) 65 (Sony) 2,113 (-673) theaters, Fri $440K (-49%), 3-day $1.6M (-50%), Total $30.6M/Wk 4
9.) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Dis) 1,440 (-475) theaters, Fri $338K (-44%) 3-day $1.3M (-46%), Total $212.1M/Wk 7
10. Jesus Revolution (LG) 1,415 (-549), Fri $300 (-46%), 3-day $1M (-47%) Total $50.9M/Wk 6
Friday Midday: Right now, Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is looking at $16M today, including those $5.6M previews for a $40M start. I’m told that won’t buckle.
Top five pics:
1.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $16M, 3-day $40M/Wk 1
2.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $8.2M (-72%), 3-day $30M (-59%), Total $124.6M/Wk 2
3.) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, 3-day $5.8M/Wk 1
4.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 theaters, Fri $1.5M, 3-day $5.2M (-37%), Total $148.7M/Wk 5
5.) Scream VI (Par) 3,106 theaters, Fri $1.4M (-42%), 3-day $4.6M (-44%), Total $97.5M/Wk 4
Check out our interview with John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, directors/writers/EPs on D&D, here.
Friday AM: Paramount and eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has made $5.6M in previews. That’s not all from Thursday showtimes, which began at 3 p.m., but includes advance Amazon sneaks among other pre-screenings. Before Thursday, we’re told Dungeons & Dragons made $1.5M. While the feature take on the popular role-playing game has been hot in word of mouth (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and with critics (89% certified fresh), tracking has sat on the movie with a $30M-$40M domestic opening projection for the $150M production (covered 50% by eOne).
Paramount believed in this movie so much that it screened the pic extensively and brought it to SXSW, where the pic made its world premiere as the fest’s opening-night title. The hope by all is that the pic overindexes this weekend, but it might be a slow burn for the film; it’s the only new live-action PG-13 fanboy choice heading into the Easter frame next weekend.
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
D&D gains a majority of the premium venues from Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 this weekend. That movie had a hot week with $94.6M at 3,855 theaters. If D&D underdelivers, does John Wick 4 claim No. 1? Even if the Keanu Reeves R-rated action pic tumbles 60%, it will see a $30M opening.
The John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein directed/written D&D is also hitting 58 offshore territories including the UK (distributed by eOne), Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Spain, with an outlook of $25M+. At the high-end, it’s a hopeful $65M global start.
On the upside, D&D‘s $4.1M Thursday is ahead of its comp Uncharted‘s Thursday previews of $3.7M last year, also ahead of spring hit Kong: Skull Island ($3.7M) and 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road ($3.7M) and just under the $4.3M Thursday of Paramount’s surprise 2018 genre spring hit, A Quiet Place, which flew to a $50.2M opening and legged out to $188M stateside, $340M WW and birthed a franchise. Uncharted is a good comp here to D&D. That pic was based on a popular Sony PlayStation videogame and opened to $44M, finaled at $148M stateside, $401.7M WW.
Top five films on Thursday:
1 John Wick: Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Thu $3.8M (-15% from Wednesday) Wk $94.6M/Wk 1 (read the review)
2 Scream VI (Par) 3,355 theaters, Thu $710 (-3%), Wk $11.4M/Total $92.9M/Wk 3 (read the review)
3 Creed III (MGM/UAR) 3207 theaters, Thu $665K, Wk $11M, Total $143.5M/Wk 4 (read the review)
4 Shazam! Fury of the Gods (NL) 4071 theaters, Thu $580K (-14%), Wk $12.2M/Total $48.8M/Wk 2 (read the review)
5 Dasara (CGX) 510 theaters, Thu $272K (-59%), Wk $939K/Wk 1
The Indian feature from writer-director Srikanth Odhela is set against the backdrop of the Singareni coal mines near Godavarikhani of Telangana. Watch the trailer below:
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