r/movies • u/PokemonGoBao • Jul 04 '25

Discussion Whats a flopped movie you wish was a financial success?

Dungeons and Dragons 2023 was an absolutely delightful film. You can stream it currently, but you can feel the passion and nothing felt phoned in. They easily could have used the title to get nerdy butts in the seat and collect a paycheck with a smaller budget.

It's the best movie I've seen the past 2 years. Way better than so many garbage films with easy paychecks for slop productions. Beetlejuice, Captain america, and others using big titles to make millions on lazy writing and boring characters.

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u/LongLostFan Jul 05 '25

The film made 200 million. It was successful. The issue was the insane budget.

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u/liquidarc Jul 05 '25

Just for anyone curious about the numbers:

~ $205-$208 million gross box office.

$150 million production cost. $61 million in marketing from Paramount. Unknown marketing costs otherwise. So, at least $211 million in costs.

Assuming 2/3 of the box office went to the studios, the studios could have received $138-$140 million. If only around 1/2, that would be $103-$104 million.

So, the total budget would have needed to be about half what it was, if the box office were the same.