While chatting about Wish, Chris Pine suggested that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 2 is possibly/maybe going to happen. It wasn’t a strong statement, but it’s also the strongest since the co-writer/director duo were talking before the writers and actors strikes.
“I’ve heard some rumors about it,” he tells us of a potential follow-up. “But I don’t know anything yet. But I feel pretty confident that it may happen.” When we ask if he’d be happy to return, Pine responds: “Absolutely.”
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Now, I’m totally behind Gizmodo’s take — Make Dungeons & Dragons 2, you cowards.
Why should Paramount and Hasbro remake this movie that fell short of its box office goals?
- Because it wasn’t that short of the box office, and thanks to the shared nature of production costs the largest loss from either studio was $25 million.
- Because a large part of that falling short was due to the compacted nature of releases that have meant a majority of films missed their targets this year. Releases are stacked up next to each other due to how the covid-19 pandemic reduced available theater openings for two years.
- Because the marketing impact of the film for the game D&D meant that even when WotC released zero game products, the game division went up.
- Because releasing more movies helps amplify interest in things like D&D: Adventures, the FAST Channel.
- Because the TV shows ordered, TV in development (Kolstad) and the documentary would be boosted by the greater attention that major films still get over prestige television. There would be synchronicity, and unlike Marvel, Star Wars there isn’t yet danger of being overwhelmed with barely connected interoperable plots.
- Because if they act quickly the main cast are available (a small benefit of the pauses due to the strikes). Pine has only 1 project (he’s said Star Trek IV v2 is dead). Rodriguez has 1 project, Regé-Jean Page has 1 project, Justice Smith has 4 projects. Sophia Lillis has 1 project. Chloe Coleman has 1 project. The cast that advocated for school D&D and grandparents D&D and just playing D&D in general is available now. That won’t be true for long.
- Because Honor Among Thieves is still regularly one of the most popular films in the world. No, really. It’s top 5 on Paramount+ in the world this week and top 3 on P+ in the USA.
That last point may be the most important. Long tails are rare in the current media environment. Many studios give up on “failures” rather than wait. The path to cancellation is quick. But Paramount and Hasbro haven’t given up on Dungeons & Dragons. It sits there on Paramount+ getting attention as one of the best found family films ever, a highly rated fantasy and it continues to help earn renewals at Paramount+ globally.
So yes, I agree with Gizmodo on this point — released D&D 2, you cowards.
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