‘Dungeons and Dragons’ Summons a $40 Million Box Office Launch

Universal Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” already broke the animation record for the largest second weekend ever earned at the box office, but after a better-than-expected Sunday, that weekend total has pushed even further to $92.5 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” left its box office competitors in the dust, scoring a massive $87 million in its second weekend of release. Ticket sales declined just 41% from its debut, resulting in the best sophomore outings ever for an animated film. So far, the video game adaptation has grossed $347.8 million in North America and $678 million globally. “Mario” stayed strong even as several new movies entered the theatrical race, to varying results. In a surprise finish, Universal’s wacky horror-comedy “Renfield,” which sees Nicolas Cage as Count Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as his rebelling henchmen, landed in fourth place with a disappointing $7.7 million from 3,375 locations. The film arrived behind Sony’s R-rated demonic thriller “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which also fell slightly short of expectations with $9.1 million.

There is absolutely no stopping “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” At a time when many blockbusters in the post-shutdown box office are taking drops of over 60% in their second weekend, the Universal/Illumination animated film is dropping just 45% for an Illumination record $80 million in its second weekend.

Thirty years after “Super Mario Bros.” essentially began the notion of a video-game-based movie with a whimper, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has given the genre its first uncontested mega-smash.

Chris Pratt had another box office success this weekend with the release of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." Box office estimates released Sunday showed the Universal Pictures film grossed $146 million domestically across more than 4,300 theaters.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” towered over box office charts with $377 million in global ticket sales, taking the title for the biggest worldwide debut of the year from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($225.3 million). The animated movie — a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal — crushed already-high expectations, igniting to $173 million internationally and $204 million in its first five days at the domestic box office. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” opened in 70 overseas territories, including Mexico ($27.4 million to start), the U.K. and Ireland ($19.6 million to start), Germany ($14 million to start) and China ($12 million to start).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Wahoo! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” racked up a blockbuster $146 million in its opening weekend and powered to $204.6 million in its first five days of release, squashing expectations and steamrolling the competition at the domestic box office. The animated movie, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal, has landed a number of records, thanks to positive word-of-mouth, nostalgia for the popular video game, and a huge turnout from family audiences. It currently stands as the biggest opening weekend of the year (overtaking “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” with $106 million), as well as the second-best debut ever for an animated title (surpassing 2016’s “Finding Dory” with $135.1 million). It’s also the highest-grossing debut for Illumination, beating 2015’s “Minions” with $115.7 million.

Brent Lang Executive Editor It’s-a blockbuster! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continued to rack up high scores at the box office as it heads into Easter weekend. The animated movie, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal, shows no signs of slowing down, earning a massive $26.5 million on Thursday. That brings its domestic haul to $58.2 million. At this rate, the mustachioed plumber should end his first five days on the big screen with more than $150 million in stateside winnings. Internationally, the movie has earned $62.5 million, pushing global ticket sales to $120.7 million. The week’s other major new release, Amazon Studios’s “Air,” a footwear tale detailing how Nike convinced Michael Jordan to become its most successful brand ambassador, earned $2.4 million on Thursday. That brings the sneaker story’s domestic total to just under $6 million. The film, which stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis, is expected to earn $16 million in its first five days in theaters. That’s a mere blip compared to Mario, but a solid result considering the struggles that movies aimed at adults have faced. Affleck directs the film in addition to starring opposite his “Good Will Hunting” buddy Damon. “Air” cost $90 million to make, meaning that Amazon better sell a lot of paper towels to justify that spending.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” launched to the top of box office charts, collecting a mighty $31.7 million on opening day. Ben Affleck’s sports drama “Air,” which also debuted on Wednesday, nabbed $3.2 million from 3,507 venues. After a bigger-than-expected opening day, estimates for Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular “Mario” video game have been revised up to $92 million over the traditional weekend and $141 million in its first five days of release. Those ticket sales continue a strong period at the box office following March releases, “Scream VI,” “Creed III,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are poised to clobber the box office competition as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” readies to power past the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular video game, which opens in 4,000 North American theaters on Wednesday, looks to collect a towering $125 million or more in its first five days of release. It’ll be the second 2023 release, following Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($106 million) to open above $100 million. “Mario” will easily lead domestic box office charts over last weekend’s champ, “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” as well as fellow newcomer “Air,” a sports drama directed by Ben Affleck.

Naman Ramachandran eOne’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.5 million ($4.4 million), per numbers released by Comscore. In its second weekend, Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” slid to second place with £2.5 million for a total of £10.1 million. Warner Bros.’ “Mummies” debuted in third place with £648,460. The studio’s “Shazam! Fury Of The Gods” and “Creed III” occupied fourth and fifth spots with £469,120 and £426,742 in their third and fifth weekends for respective totals of £4.8 million and £13.5 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” rolled the dice at the weekend box office, taking out “John Wick: Chapter 4” with its $38.5 million debut. But Paramount and eOne’s adaptation of the popular role-playing game needs to hold up against “Super Mario Bros.” to be successful in its theatrical campaign. So far, “Dungeons & Dragons” has generated $71 million globally — including $33 million at the international box office. Those numbers aren’t bad, but the film cost a hefty $150 million to produce and tens of millions more to market, so it’s not yet a clear theatrical winner. The fantasy action-comedy needs to stick around in North American and overseas theaters through the spring to justify its price tag and potentially ignite a new franchise.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves reunited the Freaks and Geeks cast for the movie’s promotional ad.The ad shows co-director John Francis Daley with his former co-stars Samm Levine and Martin Starr – who often played the board game Dungeons and Dragons in the 1999 hit series.The new promotional clip for the film takes place 23 years later and shows the trio having lost track of time fighting magical creatures, which leads Levine to wonder “if his parents are still alive.”Elsewhere in the commercial, Levine asked if the game should be made into a movie – leading all three to break out laughing. “That would never work,” Levine replied, before Daley called it “the stupidest idea in the world:. “I hope that never happens,” Levine added, with Daley aggreeing: “It won’t.”Daley incorporated the board game with the promotion of the film, having spoken of first falling in love with the franchise after playing it as a child.The ad was released on Dungeons & Dragons Movie Twitter account captioned: “Time flies when you play D&D”Time flies when you play D&D.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” opened in fourth place at the mainland China box office with a muted $5 million haul. Top honors belonged to Japanese animation film “Suzume” for the second weekend. “Suzume” incurred a 55% week-on-week drop, falling from $49.6 million in its opening weekend, to $22.1 million in is second, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. After ten days in Chinese theaters, “Suzume” now has a cumulative total of $80.6 million. Nevertheless, its lead at the top of the box office chart was unassailable. The weekend’s best-placed new release title was “Hachiko,” a Chinese retelling of the Japanese tale of a dog which faithfully waited at a station for its master years after his death. (The story was previously given a U.S. version with Richard Gere in the lead human role.) It earned $8.9 million (RMB61.2 million) in its opening weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” landed into second place at a depressed South Korean box office with a market share barely a fifth that of chart leader “Suzume.” The Japanese animation film earned $4.46 million in its fourth week of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). While that was a 26% week-on-week drop, its hold on the chart remained at over 60%. Since releasing on March 8, it has grossed $29.9 million, making it the second highest film of the year in Korea – behind another Japanese animation “The First Slam Dunk” on $35.1 million. “D&D” was the weekend’s top-placed new release and earned $958,000 for a 13% market share. Over the full five days since its opening on Wednesday, it achieved $1.36 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” an adaptation of the popular role-playing game, ignited at the international box office with $33 million from 60 markets. Paramount and eOne’s film also opened in North America with $38.5 million, bringing its global tally to $71 million. It’s a good start, especially considering Hollywood’s track record in adapting games for the big screen. But “Dungeons and Dragons” needs to keep playing in theaters to justify its $150 million price tag before marketing. Overseas audiences will be key to the success of “D&D.” The film, directed Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley and starring Chris Pine and Regé-Jean Page, enjoyed the biggest start in China with $5 million, followed by the U.K. with $4.3 million, Mexico with $2.4 million, Australia with $2.4 million, and Germany with $2 million.

Bruce Nash, the average second weekend drop for films released since theaters reopened has risen to 57% compared to 51% prior to the pandemic. Even with a drop over 60%, “John Wick 4” is still set to become the highest grossing “Wick” film with a 10-day domestic total of $122.8 million — 20% ahead of the pace of “John Wick: Chapter 3” — and a global 10-day total of $245 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” emerged victorious at the box office, rolling $38.5 million from 3,855 North American theaters in its opening weekend. Buoyed by positive reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth, Paramount and eOne’s adaptation of the popular role-playing game landed on the higher end of expectations of $30 million to $40 million. And the ticket sales for the $150 million-budgeted film are expected to remain strong in the coming weeks. Inaugural audiences may be hardcore D&D players, but analysts believe it’ll appeal to broader audiences, who may not know as much about the game, as it continues its run on the big screen. “The opening weekend performance of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ is just the first step in the journey for this well-reviewed film,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The film, which stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Hugh Grant, is expected to enjoy a $40 million-dollar opening weekend, according to Deadline.It managed to dethrone last week’s top earner “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which earned $7.87 million. Due to the success of the fourth installment of the hitman thriller series, which was supposed to be the franchise’s last, the possibility of a fifth is being considered.

J. Kim Murphy Hark! “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” looks to reach the top of box office charts in its opening weekend, besting the sophomore outing of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” “Honor Among Thieves” scored $15.3 million in its opening day, a figure that includes $5.6 million from Thursday screenings and specialty previews. Playing in 3,855 venues, the fantasy comedy is projecting a finish around $40 million, which would come in at the higher end of estimates heading into the weekend. That’s a solid figure for “Honor Among Thieves,” which Paramount has thrown support behind with a sweeping press tour and a premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. Along with the studio, Entertainment One (eOne) covered a good fraction of the production budget for the film, which totals about $150 million between the two banners. eOne is a subsidiary of Hasbro, which controls the “Dungeons & Dragons” intellectual property.