In the battle of Wick vs Dragons, Dragons win! As Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves pulled in a healthy $5.6 million from Thursday previews on its way to what is looking like a $40 million weekend, blowing past even the most modest of predictions. Preview numbers generally are just for the Thursday before a films release day, but for Dungeons & Dragons Paramount has had several screenings in the weeks leading up to the film and as such has culled all the money earned from those screenings into its “preview” numbers. Of course it says something when the studio has such faith in their film that they have screenings weeks in advance, showing they had no fear of bad word of mouth for the big screen adaptation.
When I posted our Thursday predictions, I noticed in the comments sections that a lot of people felt the question posed: Can Dungeons & Dragons take out John Wick? was an easy one. Quite simply: No! Nearly every comment said that there was no way an emasculated male main character could take on the most bad ass protagonist since Charles Bronson, yet as of right now, it appears, for this weekend at least, the dragons have taken out the boogieman. Personally speaking, I found John Wick: Chapter 4 to be a contender for a top five finish in my best of 2023 list while Dungeons & Dragons more than likely won’t make the list, which isn’t to say I didn’t like the movie, just that I agree fully with our own JimmyO’s 7/10 review for D&D as well as his 10/10 review for John Wick.
So where does that leave our battered and beaten hero, Mr. Wick? With a franchise best opening, you have further to fall, and it is looking like a 60% decline is in order, yet that still puts the Baba Yaga at a respectable $30 million in its second weekend. The film lost all of its premium screens to Dungeons & Dragons and I really hope at some point it goes back because I need to see John Wick at least one more time with that sweet Dolby Atmos sound blasting my ear drums!
Third place looks like it will be the faith based His Only Son from Angel Studios. These faith based films are proving to be highly lucrative titles and the studios know what they are doing by releasing them around Easter. Fourth and fifth place belong to Creed III with an estimated take in the $5.2 million neighborhood while Scream VI is looking at around $4.6 million in its fourth week as it nears the $100 million mark.
Have you made it to theaters yet this weekend or is it still on your list of things to do? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full run down of this weekend’s box office numbers.