Dungeons & Dragons beats John Wick 4 at box office

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is doing great at the box office, but was it able to top John Wick: Chapter 4?

The box office saw a battle of the franchises over the weekend, as the recently released Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves went head to head with John Wick: Chapter 4. Riding on positive reviews and strong word-of-mouth, Honor Among Thieves managed to steal the top box-office perch from John Wick: Chapter 4, raking in an estimated $38.5 million in the US and Canada. However, despite a significant drop in earnings, John Wick: Chapter 4 still managed to accrue $28.2 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $122.8 million and its global tally to $245 million.

Internationally, Honor Among Thieves collected $33 million from 58 markets, resulting in a global box office haul of $71.5 million, Variety reports. The Paramount Pictures and eOne release defied expectations by appealing to a wider audience than many anticipated for a film based on a notoriously niche tabletop game. Directed by Game Night filmmakers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the action-adventure movie features an all-star cast including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page and Hugh Grant. Despite being less familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, audiences gave Honor Among Thieves an A- CinemaScore and it scored a fresh 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Analysts believe that Honor Among Thieves will continue to perform well at the box office in the coming weeks, appealing to broader audiences who may not know as much about the game. Paramount's distribution chief, Chris Aronson, expressed confidence in the film's future, saying, “We know how good our movie is. I think opening to $38-39 million is just the start. “These kind of exit polls translate to playability.”

The unexpectedly strong March box office results have fielded opening weekend franchise records for Scream, Creed and John Wick and could potentially ignite a new series for D&D. However, one newcomer in March that has struggled to perform is Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Despite costing $110 million, the movie has earned only $53 million in North America and $119 million globally to date, making it unlikely to receive a sequel.