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'The Last Witch Hunter' may not a winner, but the fantasy genre is

'The Last Witch Hunter' stars Vin Diesel. While the movie isn't winning over critics, executives most likely hoped the film could take advantage of the popularity of the fantasy genre.

Following the success of the 2014 comic book movie 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy鈥� and this spring鈥檚 鈥淔ast and the Furious鈥� installment 鈥淔urious 7,鈥� actor Vin Diesel stars in the fantasy movie 鈥淭he Last Witch Hunter,鈥� which is now in theaters.聽

鈥淗unter鈥� tells the story of Kaulder (Diesel), an immortal "witch hunter" who must stop his enemies from going after the population of New York City. Michael Caine, Elijah Wood, and Rose Leslie co-star. While it involves the Big Apple, 鈥淗unter鈥� features fantasy elements, and according to 鈥淗unter鈥� director , Diesel鈥檚 performance in the movie was influenced by his affection for the fantasy Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

Critics aren鈥檛 loving the movie so far 鈥� writer Michael O鈥橲ullivan called the film 鈥渄ully derivative,鈥� while reporter Robert Abele found it to be 鈥渓oud, convoluted鈥� [an] artlessly restless, exposition-dialogue fantasy-action slog鈥� and writer Andy Webster called it 鈥渁 smorgasboard of empty calories.鈥澛�

But the mere fact that it鈥檚 being made shows how big fantasy has gotten in pop culture over the past decades. When the movie adaptations of what are often called the best fantasy books of all time, the 鈥淟ord of the Rings鈥� trilogy, were released in the early 2000s, they were called a risky bet by many in Hollywood, but the first two 鈥淟ord of the Rings鈥� movies were the second-highest-grossing movies of the years in which they were released and the final movie, 鈥淭he Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,鈥� became the highest-grossing movie domestically of 2003. It also won the Best Picture Oscar, the first fantasy film ever to get that distinction.聽

At almost exactly the same time, the 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� films arrived. While they belong less to the elves-and-dwarves fantasy genre in which 鈥淩ings鈥� dwells, they also proved that tales with magic can work at the box office. When the first 鈥淟ord of the Rings鈥� movie came in second at the domestic box office for the year, it was bested only by 鈥淧otter.鈥�

The newest property to show the genre can succeed is the HBO smash hit series 鈥淕ame of Thrones,鈥� which is set in the fictional land of Westeros. 鈥淭hrones,鈥� which is based on George R.R. Martin鈥檚 series of fantasy novels, has become HBO鈥檚 most popular series of all time. (Incidentally, Ms. Leslie starred on "Thrones" and Mr. Wood starred in the "Lord of the Rings" films 鈥� those behind the camera are no doubt hoping faces that are familiar to fantasy fans will help out the box office performance of "Hunter.")

So while 鈥淗unter鈥� may not have won over critics, the film鈥檚 chances of being greenlit by studio executives with words in the pitch like 鈥渕edieval鈥� and 鈥渕agic鈥澛燼re a lot better than they would have been before Frodo, Harry, and Tyrion Lannister arrived on our screens.