While the fantasy hit “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” successfully brought the well-known tabletop game to the big screen last year, another trilogy failed at the task.
In 2023, the role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 and the movie blockbuster “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” both released successful adaptations of the well-known board game.
However, back in 2000, filmmakers attempted to capture the adventure feeling of game nights in living rooms and package it in a trilogy – and failed.
Here you can see a trailer for Dungeons & Dragons from the year 2000:
Difficulties even before filming began
The creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Courtney Solomon, planned a huge blockbuster with the DnD film, full of visual effects that were supposed to bring the fantasy world to life.
However, film studios at the time had little interest in the fantasy genre. In the end, Wizards of the Coast did buy the rights to Dungeons & Dragons.
But instead of the $100 million budget that Solomon aimed for, he was given only $3.5 million.
With the help of investors and further negotiations with WotC, the film eventually had a budget of $45 million – yet it flopped.
Despite well-known names, a huge failure
Despite the failure, not just one, but three films based on the well-known game series were released between 2000 and 2012, under the titles:
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God
- Dungeons & Dragons 3: The Book of Vile Darkness
Among the actors were also well-known names, such as Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons (Watchmen) or Thora Birch (American Beauty). Yet, the films turned out to be absolute flops.
The first part Dungeons & Dragons received poor ratings from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, with:
- 9 % on the Tomatometer
- 20 % on the Audience Score
Why is Dungeons & Dragons so bad? The main criticisms are directed at the poor special effects, sets, and costumes. But some actors’ performances also left much to be desired according to reviews – not even Jeremy Irons could save it.
MeinMMO editor Benedikt Schlotmann watched the new “Dungeons & Dragons” film from 2023 in the cinema. Here you can read his opinion article: The new “Dungeons & Dragons” film is a must for every gamer and MMORPG fan
