[Movie] Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

[8bithamster]

I liked the trailer more than I thought.. It could be better, it could also be a lot.. lot worse (anyone remember the Bloodrayne/Dungeon Siege movies?)

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Bad poster. Not thinking this will land very well.

March release date too. Rough.

Luckily a lot of movies with bad posters became niche hits, some of my favourite movies did that. I mean look at Clockwork Orange, when released was either loathed by people or loved by less people. It ended up becoming a cult classic.

Now I am not saying that this movie will be the next clockwork orange (MMo champ has a habit of twisting words, so just putting that out there), but just to show that not every movie has to be a box office hit to be considered a good movie. A few other examples;

Clerks 1 + 2
Dogma
Boondock Saints
Any Studio Ghibli movie outside Japan

[Fencers]

Luckily a lot of movies with bad posters became niche hits, some of my favourite movies did that.

I am not remarking on the quality of the film. I don't think this is positioned and marketed well from a business point of view.

The reaction to that poster has not been good either. It's getting dragged. That can lower the engagement for the product.

[8bithamster]

I am not remarking on the quality of the film. I don't think this is positioned and marketed well from a business point of view.

The reaction to that poster has not been good either. It's getting dragged. That can lower the engagement for the product.

Which I mentioned in the rest of the post.. I really dislike how people judge a movie by its poster. Most posters are horrendous. I mean the latest star wars trilogy were just characters and dark colours puked on a sign

[Fabinas]

Bad poster. Not thinking this will land very well.

March release date too. Rough.

Agreed on the quality of the poster.

But mostly it's a movie that appeals to a certain audience (gamers, be it tabletop or computer) and the bad poster is not gonna affect them in their choice to watch the movie.

It will probably affect the rest of the people who know absolutely nothing about D&D.

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Which I mentioned in the rest of the post.. I really dislike how people judge a movie by its poster. Most posters are horrendous. I mean the latest star wars trilogy were just characters and dark colours puked on a sign

Fencers is judging it professionally. She's in the industry.

[beanman12345]

Bad poster. Not thinking this will land very well.

March release date too. Rough.

Could not agree more. If it didn't explicitly state otherwise, I would think "straight to home video." It lacks any creativity, but even being super generic, it still looks bad.

Anyways hope it's better than the other D&D movies.

[Biomega]

Who in their right mind greenlit this poster? Do they WANT this to fail, or remind people of the horrible low budget cringe D&D movies of the past?

Like, don't they pay professionals to make these? And they said "okay" to it with a straight face?

[Fencers]

Which I mentioned in the rest of the post.. I really dislike how people judge a movie by its poster. Most posters are horrendous. I mean the latest star wars trilogy were just characters and dark colours puked on a sign

I am not judging the movie. My post was about how this is marketed and positioned thus far. They put Sophia Lillis and Rege Jean Page in this thing. They are trying for a four-quadrant film.

I have no personal opinion about the quality of this film based on any promotional material. Irrelevant.

[Skildar]

They should have tried finding an actor for the bard instead of Chris Pine

[VMSmith]

This will be the first movie I'll see in a theater since Shang-Chi and almost certainly the last one for a good long while. Everything about it has me stoked, even if it ends up kinda cheesy.

[Endus]

Bad poster. Not thinking this will land very well.

March release date too. Rough.

Can we go back to an era of minimalist poster design? Nobody ever gives a shit about these "pile of faces and random gibberish crammed onto a poster" posters. Give me a simple image with, like, three total colors. Be evocative rather than trying to fit everyone's goddamned face in descending size of importance.

[Xath]

Which I mentioned in the rest of the post.. I really dislike how people judge a movie by its poster. Most posters are horrendous. I mean the latest star wars trilogy were just characters and dark colours puked on a sign

To be fair that was a pretty accurate way to judge that trilogy. Whole bunch of characters vomited into the world with basically nothing to make you care about them and undoing any progress old characters had made.

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Who in their right mind greenlit this poster? Do they WANT this to fail, or remind people of the horrible low budget cringe D&D movies of the past?

Like, don't they pay professionals to make these? And they said "okay" to it with a straight face?

It's basically the avengers style posters which have become very oversaturated likely in the next few years we see return to minimalism but until it can be shown to actually impact the earnings these will keep happening. Actors love them especially secondary billed ones because they actually are on the poster whereas previously it would often have only one actor or even none.

More on topic this looks just plain old fun will definitely be going to see it might be the first movie I go to in theaters in quite a few years honestly.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

It will probably affect the rest of the people who know absolutely nothing about D&D.

Those are the people they need to attract the most. The D&D crowd have mostly already decided one way or the other if they are going to see this film in the theaters... so yeah, the poster won't make much of a difference to them. General Audience appeal is what this movie needs if they have any hopes of becoming a major film franchise.

[Witchblade77]

one thing in the movie's favor is popularity of Stranger things. even people who are not DnD nerds are aware of it. between that and combination of Chris Pine, Michele Rodriguez and Hugh Grant - people might actualy go to see it regardless of their attachment or lack of thereof to DnD.

Me? I'm going to the movie theater for sure.. and even considering splurging for popcorn. maybe. we shall see.

[Syegfryed]

snip

Oh no, oh no, those are some bad signs here

First of all, the poster is fucking all, i can't put my finger on why, its just gets weird when you look at it.

Second, seems like its going to be clownfiesta, Thor love and thunder level of jokes. I rly don't mind something fun and a goofy approach but this trailer gave me a vibe this movie will be too over the top, no limits and that is ruining movies and shows lately, trying to double down the early marvel recipe

Some monsters are looking awful, the red wizard look too goofy, how can the owlbear and the mimic be good and the others be this bad?

Rly sad cause i ws looking for this one, hope its the reverse, trailer is shit movie is good, but ykes.

[Nymrohd]

one thing in the movie's favor is popularity of Stranger things.

This is what I'd expect. D&D has name recognition beyond any point in time outside the actual gamers because of Stranger Things and to a lesser extend because of people who don't really play but enjoy watching Mercer and streamers play. They booked some big names but they certainly seem to be going for a very "Standard" D&D experience with Forgotten Realms and hitting iconic groups, locations and villains.

To be honest I always thought D&D could do better not placing it's name front and center and going with either a big fantasy fiction story that they own (Dragonlance Trilogy or some Drizzt story) or using a less common but more impactful setting (e.g. a Mad Max style adventure in Dark Sun, a high fantasy action story in Sigil or something pulpy in Eberron). They keep going for original stories and original characters.

[Biomega]

To be honest I always thought D&D could do better not placing it's name front and center and going with either a big fantasy fiction story that they own (Dragonlance Trilogy or some Drizzt story) or using a less common but more impactful setting (e.g. a Mad Max style adventure in Dark Sun, a high fantasy action story in Sigil or something pulpy in Eberron). They keep going for original stories and original characters.

This may have reasons other than strategy, namely that they might have to pay royalties to the original creators of certain things. Which could dramatically inflate the budget, as no one in that situation WOULDN'T milk them for all they can.

I do agree in principle, though - something with say Raistlin or Drizzt could be a no-brainer for a movie that basically writes itself, but I guess it's an industry and a business, not just a creative endeavor.

[8bithamster]

To be fair that was a pretty accurate way to judge that trilogy. Whole bunch of characters vomited into the world with basically nothing to make you care about them and undoing any progress old characters had made.

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It's basically the avengers style posters which have become very oversaturated likely in the next few years we see return to minimalism but until it can be shown to actually impact the earnings these will keep happening. Actors love them especially secondary billed ones because they actually are on the poster whereas previously it would often have only one actor or even none.

More on topic this looks just plain old fun will definitely be going to see it might be the first movie I go to in theaters in quite a few years honestly.

This is exactly why I don't believe in the "Movie will bomb because bad poster!!" people are claiming (and before the Fencers defense force comes out again, people beside fencers.).
Look at movies like Star Wars, MCU, etc etc. People with a shit ton of market knowledge know exactly what works and what doesn't. All those movies have the same style poster, and all worked perfectly fine. I have yet to read anyone about those movies "I never wanted to see the movie because the poster sucked"

The poster is a reference to the older 80's style movie posters of adventure movies, and that it does perfectly. (for those who hate the poster, the 80's were before you were born. Back when Indiana Jones wasn't about UFO's yet, and Flash Gordon was a great movie).

Do I dislike the poster? Jep, I didn't like em back then, I don't like em now.
Is it objectively a bad poster? Nope, a lot of people who are paid a lot more than we ever will be have a lot of research to create the perfect poster.

[Syegfryed]

To be honest I always thought D&D could do better not placing it's name front and center and going with either a big fantasy fiction story that they own (Dragonlance Trilogy or some Drizzt story) or using a less common but more impactful setting (e.g. a Mad Max style adventure in Dark Sun, a high fantasy action story in Sigil or something pulpy in Eberron). They keep going for original stories and original characters.

Its the thing with the other settings, they are just much interesting overall, Fr while good, is in a rly weird place that it is and isn't generic

While i still think it could work, because dnd today is popular as f, going full yolo may backfire.

And i disagree the popularity is due to stranger things, it helped but even stuff as big bang theory did D&D episodes before, its just became too popular with internet, accessibility and other factors as well

[Shadowferal]

I myself have hopes for this movie. A March date is within the time frame of tryouts for new ideas for movies to make a splash.

[Nymrohd]

I mean for me the poster is not bad because of the concept it follows. It's bad because it is too busy and honestly not done well. And that poor black dragon. Only cool thing is the Red Wizard (though I don't get the stylistic decision with the make up there making her look undead or something instead of just bald, powdered and tattooed).