A solid performance despite people ignoring it in the wake of the OGL controversy
I've seen some truly wild claims about the impact of the OGL kerfuffle, but the idea that it had a meaningful impact on the box office of Honor Among Thieves might be the best one yet
Ok to be fair my view might be skewed because, the OGL was the most cited reason among the people i spoke to who skipped the movie, so i might be giving it inordinate weight.
There was a vocal “boycott D&D” demographic as it picked up steam, but looking at the aftermath they weren’t particularly large relative to the playerbase as a whole.
A solid performance despite people ignoring it in the wake of the OGL controversy
I've seen some truly wild claims about the impact of the OGL kerfuffle, but the idea that it had a meaningful impact on the box office of Honor Among Thieves might be the best one yet
Ok to be fair my view might be skewed because, the OGL was the most cited reason among the people i spoke to who skipped the movie, so i might be giving it inordinate weight.
On the list of reasons why it underperformed, that might not crack the top five
Fantasy movies in general don't do well theatrically, with the OG LOTR trilogy being almost the only exceptions. Even the Hobbit movies underperformed. Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Stardust... all tanked at the box office, all revered later. Honor Among Thieves actually did pretty well against that history -- I mean, if you want a true fantasy bomb, just look at Your Highness
They probably also missed the window for capitalizing on D&D's zeitgeist peak releasing it in 2023. The Stranger Things/CR/COVID boom had already come and gone
The real reason Honor Among Thieves hasn't gotten a sequel had more to do with its budget than its performance, though. $200 million worldwide is pretty strong, but when it cost $150 million to make, studios aren't going to rush to make another one
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It’s far more likely that the film was negatively impacted by releasing at the same time as the billion dollar Mario movie than the OGL which barely anyone outside of the hardcore D&D fanbase even knew was happening
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There was a vocal “boycott D&D” demographic as it picked up steam, but looking at the aftermath they weren’t particularly large relative to the playerbase as a whole.
On the list of reasons why it underperformed, that might not crack the top five
Fantasy movies in general don't do well theatrically, with the OG LOTR trilogy being almost the only exceptions. Even the Hobbit movies underperformed. Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Stardust... all tanked at the box office, all revered later. Honor Among Thieves actually did pretty well against that history -- I mean, if you want a true fantasy bomb, just look at Your Highness
They probably also missed the window for capitalizing on D&D's zeitgeist peak releasing it in 2023. The Stranger Things/CR/COVID boom had already come and gone
The real reason Honor Among Thieves hasn't gotten a sequel had more to do with its budget than its performance, though. $200 million worldwide is pretty strong, but when it cost $150 million to make, studios aren't going to rush to make another one
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It’s far more likely that the film was negatively impacted by releasing at the same time as the billion dollar Mario movie than the OGL which barely anyone outside of the hardcore D&D fanbase even knew was happening