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“Dune: Part Two” is underway those huge sandworms until reaching the top of the box office charts.
Director Denis Villeneuve’s big-budget sequel grossed $81.5 million in its domestic debut and provided a powerful and necessary jolt to struggling movie theaters. It’s the biggest opening weekend of the year and the biggest since Taylor Swift’s concert film last October, “The Eras Tour,” ($93 million).
Buoyed by positive reviews and excellent word of mouth (it has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” CinemaScore), “Dune 2” appears to have expanded its fan base beyond sci-fi fans and hit the high end. of expectations. . Heading into the weekend, Warner Bros., the studio behind the otherworldly epic, conservatively projected a $65 million start, though most box office forecasters believed receipts would top $80 million. Dollars.
Like the first film, “Dune: Part Two” is especially popular on Imax and other large premium formats. The PLFs, as they are known in the industry, contributed a whopping 48% of the film’s domestic total. Meanwhile, Imax accounted for $18.5 million in ticket sales, accounting for 23% of market share. Demand for watching 70mm films, the director’s format of choice, has been so high that some brave moviegoers have resorted to the 3:15am timeslots. (Yes I am)
With interest in those more expensive PLF screens, “Part Two” looks like it will have the legs to justify its expensive return to the desert planet of Arrakis. The film, co-produced and co-financed by Legendary Entertainment, cost $190 million to produce and approximately $100 million more to promote to global audiences. Initial ticket sales for the sequel have far surpassed that of the original “Dune,” which premiered in 2021 with $41 million and landed simultaneously on HBO Max. “Part One” finished its run with $402 million worldwide, making it one of the only financial gains from the studio’s pandemic-era hybrid release strategy.
The sequel was originally scheduled to hit the big screen last fall, but was delayed until spring due to the actors’ strike, which prevented stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and the rest of the large, lively cast from promoting the movie. On its new release date, the second “Dune” benefited from pent-up demand; there hasn’t been a box office hit in weeks.
The opening grosses of “Dune 2,” coming on the heels of Warner’s fantasy musical “Wonka,” seem to confirm Chalamet as that rarest of species: a bankable leading man. And the outsized commercial results could position Villeneuve, with the possible exception of Christopher Nolan, as the filmmaker best suited to deliver the kind of intelligent big-screen spectacle that can appeal to wide audiences.
Since “Dune: Part Two” consumed most of the oxygen in multiplexes, other movies in theaters fought for the scraps. in a distant In second place, Paramount’s musical biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” earned $7.4 million in 3,390 theaters. The film, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the music legend, has become a surprise box office hit with $82.7 million in North America and $146 million worldwide.
Hilary Swank’s inspiring drama “Ordinary Angels” remained in third place with $3.8 million from 3,020 theaters. After two weeks on the big screen, the film from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company has grossed just $12 million. However, “Ordinary Angels” is said to have a modest double-digit budget, which could help offset these lackluster grosses.
In fourth place, “Madame Web” continued to fail with $3.2 million in 3,116 theaters. Sony’s “Spider-Man” spinoff, starring Dakota Johnson as a paramedic with psychic abilities, cost $80 million to make and has generated a measly $40 million domestically and $50 million internationally so far. the date.
Religious television series “The Chosen” rounded out the top five with $3.1 million from 2,215 theaters. Fathom Events has released season 4 of the show exclusively in theaters with two-week episodes, and this weekend’s run included episodes seven and eight. Ticket sales were slightly behind episodes four through six, which grossed $3.5 million. They dropped dramatically from episodes one to three, which made $6 million at the start and $14 million during its run.
More to come…