High fantasy is one of the most exciting parts of the genre, and this movie, available on Paramount+ in the United States, has a lot of fun within those boundaries, meriting a sequel. Nowadays, when many think of fantasy movies and TV shows, they tend to go to the Game of Thrones franchise. Sure, it is a high fantasy story, but with low fantasy tendencies.
If you want to get a truly immersive world filled with magic, different creatures, and unique locations, then there are projects that go deeper into the high fantasy concept. For instance, Netflix is the home of hit shows like The Witcher, Arcane, and Shadow and Bone, all of which fit that description. That said, it is far from the only streaming service to do it.
Prime Video’s best TV shows and movies also include exciting high fantasy releases, both in terms of movies and shows. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time are two of the massive releases on the streaming service. As is the case for those two, Paramount+’s library of movies and TV shows also holds exciting high fantasy releases.
A Compendium of Enchanted Cinema How Well Do You Know Fantasy Movies? “Magic always comes with a price.”
🪄SpellsWingardium Leviosa
🐉BeastsHere be dragons
👑KingdomsLong live the king
⚔QuestsThe hero’s journey
🔮MagicWhat lies ahead
01
Across the Harry Potter films, the boy wizard is rarely without his loyal companion — a snowy owl gifted to him by Hagrid on his eleventh birthday. What is the owl’s name?
✓ Correct! Hedwig — the snowy owl Harry receives in The Philosopher’s Stone — becomes one of his most beloved companions. Errol is the Weasleys’ ancient, accident-prone owl; Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny hyperactive owl; and Crookshanks is Hermione’s ginger cat — not an owl at all.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Hedwig. Errol is the Weasleys’ clumsy family owl, Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny owl from later books, and Crookshanks is Hermione’s cat. Hedwig is the snowy owl Hagrid buys Harry for his birthday — even getting her own leitmotif from composer John Williams.
02
In Rob Reiner’s 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, the farm boy Westley answers Buttercup’s every demand with the same three words — which she comes to realize actually mean “I love you.” What does he say?
✓ Correct! “As you wish” is Westley’s signature line — and the film’s emotional core. “Inconceivable!” is Vizzini’s catchphrase (prompting Inigo’s famous “You keep using that word…”). The other two were never in William Goldman’s script — the whole point is that three plain words carry all the meaning.
✗ Not quite! The answer is “As you wish.” “Inconceivable!” belongs to the Sicilian Vizzini. Buttercup slowly realizes that Westley’s endlessly repeated “As you wish” is really his way of saying “I love you” — one of the most quoted lines in fantasy cinema.
03
The 2006 Spanish-language masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth blends a fascist-era fairy tale with the grim reality of post-Civil War Spain, featuring the nightmarish Pale Man. Which director created this dark fantasy?
✓ Correct! Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed Pan’s Labyrinth, designing the Faun and the eyeless Pale Man himself. He’d later win Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water. Cuarón directed Prisoner of Azkaban; Almodóvar is Spain’s great melodramatist; Rodriguez is del Toro’s close friend but made Sin City and Spy Kids.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Guillermo del Toro. Alfonso Cuarón (a fellow “Three Amigos” of Mexican cinema) directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pedro Almodóvar makes Spanish melodramas, and Robert Rodriguez made Sin City. Del Toro’s creature designs in Pan’s Labyrinth are now iconic.
04
In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), the four Pevensie children first stumble into the snowy land of Narnia by passing through what object?
✓ Correct! It’s a wardrobe — it’s right there in the title. Lucy hides inside during a game and finds the snow and lamppost of Narnia beyond the fur coats. A magical painting actually appears in the sequel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; the mirror and well are red herrings from other fantasy tales.
✗ Not quite! The answer is a wardrobe — literally named in the title. Lucy Pevensie pushes past the coats and steps out into snowy Narnia by the lamppost. (A magical painting does pull the children into the sea in the later film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — but not here.)
05
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) made Oscar history as the first fantasy film to win Best Picture, sweeping every category it was nominated in. How many Academy Awards did it take home?
✓ Correct! Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations — tying Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the all-time record, and becoming the first (and so far only) fantasy film to win Best Picture. Remarkably, it earned zero acting nominations yet still swept the board clean.
✗ Not quite! The answer is 11 — a perfect clean sweep. Return of the King tied Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscar wins ever and broke fantasy’s long Best Picture drought. Fellowship of the Ring won 4 and The Two Towers won 2; the finale took everything it was nominated for.
06
In the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean films, Johnny Depp earned an Oscar nomination playing a swaggering, kohl-eyed pirate captain reportedly inspired by Keith Richards. What is the character’s name?
✓ Correct! Captain Jack Sparrow — Depp’s loose-limbed, rum-soaked performance earned a surprise Best Actor nomination for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Will Turner is the blacksmith hero (Orlando Bloom), Davy Jones is the tentacle-faced villain (Bill Nighy), and Hector Barbossa is the mutinous rival captain (Geoffrey Rush).
✗ Not quite! The answer is Captain Jack Sparrow. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is the earnest blacksmith, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is the squid-faced sea villain, and Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is the cursed rival. It was Depp’s Sparrow — modeled partly on Keith Richards — who earned the Oscar nod.
07
Jim Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy Labyrinth features a teenage Jennifer Connelly navigating a maze to rescue her baby brother from the flamboyant, wild-haired Goblin King Jareth. Which rock legend played Jareth?
✓ Correct! David Bowie played Jareth, writing and performing the film’s songs including “Magic Dance” and “As the World Falls Down.” Tim Curry famously played the demon Darkness in another Ridley Scott fantasy, Legend (also 1985-86). Jagger and Sting are rock icons but never donned Jareth’s glittering cape and wild wig.
✗ Not quite! The answer is David Bowie. Tim Curry played the towering devil Darkness in the rival fantasy Legend around the same time. Bowie not only starred as Jareth the Goblin King but composed and sang the soundtrack — “Magic Dance” remains the film’s signature number.
08
In the 1984 classic The NeverEnding Story, the young warrior Atreyu journeys across the dying realm of Fantasia and befriends a furry, dog-faced luckdragon who carries him through the skies. What is the luckdragon’s name?
✓ Correct! Falkor (Falkor the luckdragon) is the friendly, scale-and-fur covered dragon who aids Atreyu and Bastian. Artax is Atreyu’s horse, lost heartbreakingly in the Swamp of Sadness; Gmork is the wolf-like servant of The Nothing; and Bastian is the real-world boy reading the story who is ultimately drawn into it.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Falkor. Artax is Atreyu’s beloved horse (the Swamp of Sadness scene scarred a generation), Gmork is the menacing wolf-beast serving The Nothing, and Bastian is the bullied boy reading the book. Falkor is the soaring luckdragon — one of fantasy cinema’s most cherished creatures.
The Grimoire Closes · Quest Complete Your Fantasy Rank
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Archmage of the Silver Screen — or still lost in the labyrinth?
That said, I believe that the high fantasy project on Paramount+ that deserves the most attention is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The fantasy movie was released in theaters on March 31, 2023. Three years later, it remains one of the best live-action high fantasy movies, and it still deserves a sequel.
Why Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Is A Fantasy Masterpiece Despite Its Box Office
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves ended up bringing $208.2 million worldwide. It was a box office bomb, as the fantasy movie on Paramount+ had a reported budget of $150 million, and thus needed to finish between $300 million and $375 million to break even. That said, the fantasy movie’s box office failure has nothing to do with its quality. In fact, it is one of the few high fantasy releases in recent memory to truly feel like it manages to showcase the chaotic nature of a D&D playthrough with friends well.
In addition to that, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves had great VFX, charismatic actors, deep lore, and more. Those looking for high fantasy movies filled with creative uses of magic, different types of heroes, dragons, monsters, and more will find that all in one place. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was also directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who were among the writers of Tom Holland’s beloved Spider-Man: Homecoming. The high fantasy movie’s cast includes names like Chris Pine, Bridgerton‘s Regé-Jean Page, It‘s Sophia Lillis, Fast & Furious star Michelle Rodriguez, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu‘s Justice Smith, Hugh Grant, and more.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Sequel Could Thrive On Streaming
Sophia Lillis as Doric in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
While looking at a recent example, I was taken by the idea of how a Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves sequel could become a global streaming hit, being made for a streamer like Paramount+, rather than risking another theatrical outing after the first movie bombed. 2026’s Masters of the Universe shows how that could be possible. The high fantasy movie also failed in theaters, only to instantly become Prime Video’s most-watched film worldwide in July, a position that it maintains to this day, according to FlixPatrol.
As such, it is clear that there is an appetite for these types of stories on streaming. The fact that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a universally beloved movie despite its low box office is another reason why it deserves a sequel. The fantasy movie stands at a near-perfect 91%% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with its audience score coming in just a step above that, at a high 92%. Masters of the Universe‘s success suggests that making a Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves sequel as a streaming exclusive is a viable plan.
