Who else grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons? Who still plays as an adult? Between the real-life game and fictional movies, this franchise just cannot be stopped.
For those not familiar, the world-renowned tabletop game was first published in 1974, and these days, D&D is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern RPGs while undeniably influencing video games and the gaming industry at large for decades. And then, inevitably, came the movie adaptations...
The films from the 2000s may have been duds, but Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is both a critical and commercial success. It's set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and features a stellar cast, including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, and Hugh Grant. While the film continues to enjoy box-office success, we took a look at some other successful movie franchises that radiate a similar adventurous, fantastical and even comedic vibe as Honor Among Thieves.
6 The Lord of the Rings
The Prime Video series, The Rings of Power, continues on, and more films are reportedly in the works — but who can forget Peter Jackson's OG trilogy? A winner of numerous Academy Awards, the three Lord of the Rings films from the early-2000s are a must-see for film buffs everywhere — and D&D fans, for that matter. The Hobbit films weren't as great, but the source material — aka J. R. R. Tolkien's original novels — are utterly original in terms of fantastical storytelling. Honor Among Thieves is lively, original and thrilling throughout, and the same could be said of all three Lord of the Rings movies.
5 Harry Potter
"You're a wizard, Harry." Speaking of fantasy elements, the Harry Potter films were terrific adaptations of J.K. Rowling's book series, and her material just keeps coming. The latest Fantastic Beasts installments weren't as great as Daniel Radcliffe's starring vehicles, but we can't wait to see what the franchise drops next. The films/novels chronicle the lives of young Harry and his friends, who are all students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The rich world and playful spirit of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves create a tone that viewers equally loved in the Harry Potter films earlier this century.
4 Willow
Before the Disney+ series came the 1988 film from award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard (Splash). Willow also happened to be exec-produced by George Lucas, who came up the unique idea back in the 70s. Lucas, the man responsible for Star Wars, is a visionary, whose imaginative work surely tickles the fancy of hardcore D&D fans everywhere. In Willow, Val Kilmer (Batman Forever) stars alongside Warwick Davis, who plays the title character — an aspiring magician who teams up with a disaffected warrior (Kilmer) to protect a baby from an evil queen. The OG film received two Oscar nominations, and fans were pleased when the reboot hit Disney+ this past year.
"For years, it’s been talked about, not by anyone official, but by the fans," Davis once told Collider about the reboot. "They’ve constantly pestered me, saying, 'When are we going to see a sequel to that movie?' And it’s a question that I could never answer, until I met Jon Kasdan, who I understood was also a fan. I wondered, on the set of Solo, who had let him onto a set with no fans allowed because he was obsessed, talking about Willow. I was like, 'Surely we should be concentrating on making this Star Wars story here, shouldn’t we?'"
3 Guardians of the Galaxy
Who's excited for the highly anticipated, and so far positively-reviewed, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? In the meantime, Honor Among Thieves fans should check out James Gunn's first two installments, whose lighthearted nature virtually matches that of the new D&D film. The Guardians of the Galaxy first surfaced in Marvel Comics back in the day. And now, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Mantis, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and Adam Warlock are on the big screen.
Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana lead a stellar cast with each film. Most of us know the general premise by now — space adventurer Peter Quill (Pratt) is chased by bounty hunters and is ultimately forced into a clunky truce with a handful infamous misfits, so that they can evade the bad guys' clutches and save the universe with the help of a mysterious orb. The sequel was perhaps even sillier than the original, but fantastical/sci-fi nature overall will appeal to the Dungeons & Dragons fanverse.
2 King Arthur
King Arthur has been adapted to the big screen again and again over the years. The legendary king of Britain is a central figure in medieval literarature, who originated through Welsh mythology, appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore. Either way, it's prime fantasy-genre material for filmmakers, so it's no wonder directors like Guy Ritchie have taken a stab at bringing the legend to life on screen. I
n addition to Charlie Hunnam's 2017 effort, Clive Owen also played the epic character in a somewhat underrated 2004 film co-starring Kiera Knightley. The mythological storylines in each King Arthur installment echo the kinds of fun tales that D&D players weave together in their own role-playing games.
1 Shrek
Speaking of fun — Shrek also made our list due to the nonstop humor and clever storytelling with each film. Fun fact: Shrek existed before the 2001 film as a picture book centering on the antihero green monster, who leaves home to see the world and ends up marrying an "ugly" princess. The book served as the basis for the first Shrek movie its sequels that followed, starring the voice talents of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy.
Each film is hilarious in its own right, sometimes breaking the fourth wall in ways that echo that kind of roundtable-storytelling spirit that's highlighted the equally hilarious Honor Among Thieves. Even the recent spinoff film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was a knockout.