Chris Pine Makes 11.5 Million Doing The Dungeons & Dragons Movie
So that’s how much it costs to get a big name inside of a Dungeon or a Dragon. Here’s the latest from the D&D movie set.
We may not know much about the overall story of the upcoming D&D movie, outside of rumors that the Hand and Eye of Vecna will play a role in the driving action of the story, but we do know that Chris Pine is taking home a dragon’s hoard for appearing in the movie based on the popular tabletop roleplaying franchise. According to a listing of Variety’s top-paid actors this year, Chris Pine managed to loot $11.5 million from the D&D movie–that’s the reported total the actor was paid for his role in Dungeons & Dragons.
The sum places Pine 16th on Variety’s list of highest paid actors, beating out next-in-line Robert Pattinson, who took a scant $3 million home for being The Batman, while falling below Keanu Reeves who is taking home $12-$14 million for The Matrix 4 and far below Daniel Craig who will make $100 million for his role in Knives Out’s sequel. All of which to say, that’s a lot of money to put in a Dungeons & Dragons movie.
Especially when you consider that that’s a full quarter of the budget for the original D&D movie. But perhaps if D&D (2000) had had Chris Pine instead of…
Did you know this guy’s full name is Ridley Freeborn? Neither did I and now we’re both cursed.
…they might have had better luck. Here’s hoping that the star power brought by the current movie’s cast, comprising Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, Chloe Coleman, and Hugh Grant can set up the script, penned by director’s Jonathan Goldstein and Jonathan Francis-Daley for maximum success.
By all accounts, the script is good–with star Regé-Jean Page calling it a sigh of relief for D&D fans. Details are still scant from the set of the movie, though leaked photos give you an idea of the overall look and feel, from misty moors and secret deals, to barbarians who roll up to battle (presumably not on scooters).
But this move does seem to cement the idea that the Lore of D&D is going to be a prominent part of the picture. This tracks with the desire to expand the RPG franchise into multiple mass media. The upcoming live-action TV series reportedly features the Underdark, and if rumors are to be believed, Drizzt Do’Urden the legendary drow ranger as well. Who knows what’ll come out of the show, which comes from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad and has Eureka co-creator Andrew Cosby working in there somewhere as well, per a recent SDCC panel.
Will this be the start of the D&D cinematic universe? WotC and Hasbro probably hope so–but it’s a tricky thing to predict what will make a franchise last long enough to make people want to keep coming back to it. A big part of the draw of Dungeons & Dragons is how much creativity it offers to its fans. For people who play, the world becomes their own. Can that same ownership still exist if suddenly we’re worried about things like the D&D Canon? Either way, Chris Pine–who is still somehow not James Marsden, will want to check his loot for magic items.
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