D&D Sequel Script Done But May Never Be Filmed
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- Jonathan Goldstein told ScreenRant that he and co-director John Francis Daley wrote a sequel to "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" but it "may not see the light of day for a number of financial reasons" because the films are "expensive to make," though he added they'd "love to do it" for the cast and fans.
- "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" (2023) holds a 91% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and a 92% audience score, but grossed $205.46 million worldwide against an estimated $150 million production budget shared between Paramount and Hasbro's subsidiary Entertainment One.
- Hugh Grant, who played villain Forge in the film, told Vanity Fair in 2024 that the box office underperformance was "the biggest mystery to me" and blamed the absence of pre-release market research, saying audiences "just thought, I don't want to see a film about this game."
- Goldstein and Daley are next set to direct "Renegades," an action thriller based on a short story by Will Simmons, and are also developing the next "Star Trek" film for Paramount.
- The first live-action Dungeons & Dragons film (2000) followed a similar commercial trajectory, grossing just $33 million worldwide on a $45 million budget, with its two sequels — 2005's "Wrath of the Dragon God" and 2012's "The Book of Vile Darkness" — going direct to Syfy.
Why it matters: For Paramount and Hasbro's Entertainment One, a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score and 92% audience rating couldn't overcome a $205M worldwide gross against a $150M budget — the math simply doesn't justify another expensive sequel. The 2000 D&D film repeated the pattern ($33M on a $45M budget), suggesting tabletop game adaptations face a structural ceiling that strong reviews alone can't break.
