One Of 2023's Best Fantasy Movies Is Finally Finding An Audience On Netflix

"Dungeons & Dragons" is a tricky fantasy brand. Just about everyone knows what it is, and lots of people are quite sure that a role-playing game that requires loads of imagination and a considerable time commitment is not for them — although, as "Freaks and Geeks" taught us, these folks who think they're anti-D&D are only one campaign away from becoming total converts. This overwhelmingly negative perception some people hold of D&D is likely a big reason why movies based on the game have failed to take off. There's also the fact that the first attempt, 2000's "Dungeons & Dragons," was an unwatchable heap of crap helmed by the shockingly untalented Courtney Solomon. That didn't help at all.

2023's "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" was a different matter entirely. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and "Freaks and Geeks" alum John Francis Daley, the film boasted a crackerjack cast that included Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant and earned terrific reviews across the board. (It boasts a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) When it opened to a very solid $37 million at the North American box office and put up an A- Cinemascore, there was an expectation that it could become a leggy word-of-mouth hit.

Sadly, this didn't happen. The family-friendly adventure got severely undercut during its second weekend of release by the preordained blockbuster "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." It fell off 63% and rapidly hemorrhaged screens thereafter. Worldwide, the $150-million budgeted "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" ultimately finished its theatrical run with a disappointing $208 million gross.

As of right now, a sequel to Goldstein and Daley's film seems unlikely, but perhaps its popularity on Netflix could change that.

According to FlixPatrol, "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" is currently the ninth most-watched movie on Netflix (ahead of the Ice Cube and Chris Tucker comedy classic "Friday"). It was eighth last week, so that's a fairly respectable hold for a film to which many people have a knee-jerk resistance.

Though it's hard to glean much of anything from Netflix rankings, it's encouraging to see that the streamer's subscribers are giving the 2023 movie a shot. Goldstein and Daley bring the same degree of cleverness to the film that they brought to their uproarious 2018 hit "Game Night." They also strike a deft balance of silliness and heroism in a way that recalls a classic like Dean Parisot's "Galaxy Quest." It's the kind of movie that you know people will love if they give it a chance; you've just got to get them past their aversion to the brand.

So, if you're looking to watch a ludicrously entertaining big-budget flick that somehow passed you by, fire up Netflix and give "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" a shot. I guarantee you won't regret it.