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Saturday AM: Though Friday was $15.3M, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is still looking at a $40M opening. This movie is coming in at the high-end of tracking, and that is to be commended for the Paramount/eOne $150M production. Hasbro controlled the IP, brought Paramount the movie, and agreed on the terms of financing at 50%.

Though not the most bedazzling start for a movie of that size, we need to remember the pandemic comp of Sony’s Uncharted, which cost $120M, opened to $44M, finaled at $148.6M U.S./Canada and did $401.7M worldwide. Sony was quick to call that a franchise start. The scores here are fantastic for D&D, with an A- CinemaScore (better than Uncharted‘s B+), 90% , 4 1/2 stars on ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak, with a 77% recommend. Kids under 12 gave it 85% positive, with a 51% definite recommend.

Can this go higher this weekend? Most sources believe $40M is the ceiling here for the Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Rege-Jean Page, and Sophia Lillis movie. Those buying their tickets day-of, indicating walk-up business, stood at 58%. By comparison, those who bought tickets to John Wick: Chapter 4 on its first Friday amounted to 55% of all moviegoers. Imax and PLFs are driving 36% of the weekend ticket sales to date for D&D.

Some rival distributors have snarked that this was a hard spot for D&D to go between John Wick: Chapter 4 and Universal/Illumination’s Super Mario Bros on the calendar. However, where else to program a film in 2023 as all these movies come out of the post-production logjam? For the month of April, it’s the marquee live-action PG-13 fanboy film outside of Super Mario Bros, three horror pics – The Pope’s Exorcist, Renfield, Evil Dead Rise, and female-skewing fare like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret — all before Disney/Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 arrives to steal all the cash.

Not to mention, this week, a third of all K-12 schools are off starting Monday, with 5% colleges off rising to 80% K-12 out, 31% colleges off on Good Friday. And you have Super Mario Bros opening on Wednesday. So by that measure, Paramount was getting out ahead with D&D, and you can’t blame them for that. Let’s wait and see what the multiple is on this John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein directed/written movie. We could be looking at a nice 4-day opening here.

Paramount definitely didn’t abandon this movie. Rather, it championed it to the sky with several screenings, all the while noticing its vibrant reception. This version of D&D is already leaps and bounds and light years ahead of New Line’s 2000 sour failure, which opened to $7.2M and finaled at $15.3M and a near $34M WW. Clearly, moviegoers prefer this feature adaptation of the role-playing game.

D&D was on a roll in the West, Mountain, and Midwest, but had solid numbers throughout the country. The AMC Burbank was the top-grossing venue, with close to $60K yesterday.

Some 61% of guys showed up to D&D, with men over 25 the biggest demo at 41% (85% grade), women over 25 at 27% (the best grade at 94%, can’t knock that Jean-Page), guys under 25 at 20% (92%), and women under 25 at 12% (also 92% grade). The 18-34 sect came out at 63%. Diversity demos were 48% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic and Latino, 10% Asian, and 8% Black.

All movies this weekend look to gross an estimated $100.6M, +21% over the same frame a year ago. We’re still rebounding. But we’re still off -27% from the same weekend in 2019, which grossed $137.8M, and that’s when Dumbo opened to $45.9M off a $170M budget.

Elsewhere, Angel Studios had the faith-based His Only Son opening at 1,920 theaters, with an estimated $2.1M Friday and an estimated $5.5M opening. No Rotten Tomatoes critics score, but the audience loved it at 95%. PostTrak clocked great exits as well, which is typical for these films, at 93% positive, 83% recommend. 65% female leaning, 66% over 45 — again, which is standard. Largest want-to-see was those over 55, who repped 46% of the crowd. Diversity demos were 56% Caucasian, 29% Latino and Hispanic, 7% Black, and 8% Asian/other. Circuits in the Bible belt did business, with the South and South Central standing out, yet with the top theater being in Lititz, PA. 

Focus Features’ Sundance Grand Jury Prize dramatic winner, A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, looks to rank 7th place with a $700K Friday, $1.72M opening off 926 theaters and a near $1,9K per theater. For Focus post-pandemic, for a niche film like this, that’s a solid number, particularly in an arthouse marketplace which is in great need of resurging. It’s on par with Vengeance, which opened to $1.75M at 998 theaters, and it’s higher than, and a much better result than, their 2022 Sundance pick-up, Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul, which opened to $1.4M 3-day off twice the amount of theaters of 1,880 and a $756 theater average; that movie also going day-and-date on Peacock over Labor Day weekend. Great reviews and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively at 96% and 83%, with PostTrak exits lower at 76% positive, 63% definite recommend. Female-leaning at 65%, 61% between 18-34, with 25-34 year-olds the biggest quad at 33%. Diversity demos were 51% Black, 23% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, and 10% Asian/other. Pic’s best regions were the East and the South, with seven of the top ten theaters coming out of NYC.

Cinegalaxy’s Dasara in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil clocked $280K yesterday at 510 locations in 118 markets with solid numbers in Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin, for what looks to be a 3-day of $939K, 5-day of $1.8M.

The second weekend of MGM’s Zach Braff-directed movie, A Good Person, shoots up 157 theaters to 687 venues for $168K on Friday, -40%, and a 3-day of $557K (-33%) for a running total of $1.8M in weekend 2.

1.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $15.3M, 3-day $40M/Wk 1

2.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $7.85M (-73%), 3-day $28.3M (-62%), Total $122.9M/Wk 2

3.) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, 3-day $5.5M/Wk 1

4.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 (-380) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-35%), 3-day $5.2M (-36%), Total $148.8M/Wk 5

5.) Scream VI (Par) 3,106 theaters (-339), Fri $1.55M (-37%), 3-day $5.15M (-38%), Total $98M/Wk 4

6.) Shazam: Fury of the Gods 3,451 (-620) theaters, Fri $1.2M (-49%), 3 day $4.5M (-52%), Total $53.3M/Wk 3

7.) A Thousand and One (Foc) 926 theaters, Fri $700K, 3-day $1.72M/Wk 1

8.) 65 (Sony) 2,113 (-673) theaters, Fri $440K (-49%), 3-day $1.6M (-50%), Total $30.6M/Wk 4

9.) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Dis) 1,440 (-475) theaters, Fri $338K (-44%) 3-day $1.3M (-46%), Total $212.1M/Wk 7

10. Jesus Revolution (LG) 1,415 (-549), Fri $300 (-46%), 3-day $1M (-47%) Total $50.9M/Wk 6

Friday Midday: Right now, Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is looking at $16M today, including those $5.6M previews for a $40M start. I’m told that won’t buckle.

Top five pics:

1.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $16M, 3-day $40M/Wk 1

2.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $8.2M (-72%), 3-day $30M (-59%), Total $124.6M/Wk 2

3.) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, 3-day $5.8M/Wk 1

4.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 theaters, Fri $1.5M, 3-day $5.2M (-37%), Total $148.7M/Wk 5

5.) Scream VI (Par) 3,106 theaters, Fri $1.4M (-42%), 3-day $4.6M (-44%), Total $97.5M/Wk 4

Check out our interview with John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, directors/writers/EPs on D&D, here.

Friday AM: Paramount and eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has made $5.6M in previews. That’s not all from Thursday showtimes, which began at 3 p.m., but includes advance Amazon sneaks among other pre-screenings. Before Thursday, we’re told Dungeons & Dragons made $1.5M. While the feature take on the popular role-playing game has been hot in word of mouth (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and with critics (89% certified fresh), tracking has sat on the movie with a $30M-$40M domestic opening projection for the $150M production (covered 50% by eOne).

Paramount believed in this movie so much that it screened the pic extensively and brought it to SXSW, where the pic made its world premiere as the fest’s opening-night title. The hope by all is that the pic overindexes this weekend, but it might be a slow burn for the film; it’s the only new live-action PG-13 fanboy choice heading into the Easter frame next weekend.

D&D gains a majority of the premium venues from Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 this weekend. That movie had a hot week with $94.6M at 3,855 theaters. If D&D underdelivers, does John Wick 4 claim No. 1? Even if the Keanu Reeves R-rated action pic tumbles 60%, it will see a $30M opening.

RELATED: Lionsgate’s Joe Drake Wants To See Keanu Reeves In More ‘John Wick’ Pics After ‘Chapter 4’ Franchise Record B.O. Debut: “We’re Not Ready To Say Goodbye”

The John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein directed/written D&D is also hitting 58 offshore territories including the UK (distributed by eOne), Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Spain, with an outlook of $25M+. At the high-end, it’s a hopeful $65M global start.

On the upside, D&D‘s $4.1M Thursday is ahead of its comp Uncharted‘s Thursday previews of $3.7M last year, also ahead of spring hit Kong: Skull Island ($3.7M) and 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road ($3.7M) and just under the $4.3M Thursday of Paramount’s surprise 2018 genre spring hit, A Quiet Place, which flew to a $50.2M opening and legged out to $188M stateside, $340M WW and birthed a franchise. Uncharted is a good comp here to D&D. That pic was based on a popular Sony PlayStation videogame and opened to $44M, finaled at $148M stateside, $401.7M WW.

Top five films on Thursday:

1 John Wick: Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Thu $3.8M (-15% from Wednesday) Wk $94.6M/Wk 1 (read the review)

2 Scream VI (Par) 3,355 theaters, Thu $710 (-3%), Wk $11.4M/Total $92.9M/Wk 3 (read the review)

3 Creed III (MGM/UAR) 3207 theaters, Thu $665K, Wk $11M, Total $143.5M/Wk 4 (read the review)

4 Shazam! Fury of the Gods (NL) 4071 theaters, Thu $580K (-14%), Wk $12.2M/Total $48.8M/Wk 2 (read the review)

5 Dasara (CGX) 510 theaters, Thu $272K (-59%), Wk $939K/Wk 1
The Indian feature from writer-director Srikanth Odhela is set against the backdrop of the Singareni coal mines near Godavarikhani of Telangana. Watch the trailer below: