‘Dune: Part Two’ will have a worldwide premiere of $170 million: box office

Warner Bros.

We’ve been waiting for this one for quite some time.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros.’ Dune: Part Two opens this weekend in what is a much-needed jolt of testosterone for the box office that has been left gasping for air by the delayed dual strike titles. To date, the 2024 annual domestic box office has yet to surpass one billion with just $866.3 million through Sunday, down 18% from the Jan. 1 to Feb. 1 take. 25 paintings a year ago. The second part of Denis Villeneuve’s multi-award-winning 2021 feature film of Frank Herbert’s classic novel could well see a $170 million global opening – which is divided into 85 million dollars–90 million dollars abroad and other 80 million dollars at the high end in the US and Canada (Warners conservatively projects 65 million dollarsbut most exhibitors and tracking services see close to $80 million).

Content is king. Dune: Part Two At $190 million it was largely financed by Legendary, however Warner Bros. has a low double-digit stake in the film. The Warners will get a small cut of the box office and also a distribution fee. Warner Bros. invested in global marketing in a campaign led by Warner marketing guru Josh Goldstine; money to be recovered in the waterfall downstream. Still, the afterglow will add some shine to Warner Bros. Discovery, led by David Zaslav, with a share price of $8.60 (at the time of this report), which could hopefully rise next week. The conglom’s latest fourth quarter was tempered by strikes and a dull advertising market. However, Zaslav promised “We have a plan of attack for 2024” and that includes “a stronger creative pipeline in our film and television studios.” Well, here come the sandworms.

Keep in mind that the $65 million to $80 million domestic opening will be much higher than 2021’s $41 million domestic opening. Dune which saw its ticket sales diverted by a day-and-date theatrical release on the HBO Max streaming service in early October of that year. Still Dune is one of the few day-and-date titles to have surpassed $100 million at the domestic box office, and only one of two along with Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong to cross more than 400 million dollars worldwide. It was one of the few blockbusters that worked in both homes and theaters, but it certainly left money on the table.

That confidence in America stems from advance ticket sales, which are heavily skewed toward fanboys and premium formats like IMAX and PLF. Sources tell us that everything since last Friday, Dune: Part Two has raised $18 million in advance ticket sales ($11.5 million from the top three circuits). Fandango counts around 200,000, which is just below where Jurassic World: Dominion ($145 million opening) and ahead of oppenheimer ($82.4 million). Dune: Part TwoPre-sales are also in line with Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3. However, industry sources are not giving up: although these types of pre-sales indicate an opening of more than $100 million in Dune: part two, The challenge is for non-premium sales to do well on Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, Austin Butler and Florence Pugh’s space opera. That’s what is currently driving down estimates to $80 million in the United States.

But there are even more indicators of Dune: Part Two outperform: The film has excellent reviews with 97% certified fresh compared to the first film’s 83% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with critics from the Los Angeles Times announcing “An instant milestone of its genre” and the New York Post beaming: “Our blockbuster drought is over, thanks to a brilliant sequel set on a sweltering desert planet.”

Dune: Part Two is booked in 4,050 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, with 3,400 locations in Thursday previews. Last Sunday, $2 million was already raised from a first Imax fan event that will be accumulated into Thursday’s figure. The movie will play on all premium formats i.e. Screen X, Dolby, D-Box, and the list goes on.

Dune: Part Two It begins its overseas rollout on Wednesday, starting in France, Korea, Italy and Scandinavia. On Thursday it adds 42 markets, including Germany, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and all of Latin America. On Friday, Spain and the United Kingdom join forces to complete a full international launch in 71 markets.

When it comes to opening between 85 and 90 million dollars abroad, there is of course room for maneuver. This is a film that has been saddled with a sort of savior badge, but one that can also skew toward adults, which means that the need to see it, despite the little news in recent weeks, could mean a more difficult process. slow. Still, with Zendaya and her otherworldly outfits gracing red carpets around the world, the work here overseas compared to the first film is expected to be a bit younger, and that could be a reason for higher numbers. Here in the US and Canada we hear that Dune: Part Two It is mostly male (the first film attracted 61% boys).

In comparable markets, in 2021, Dune raised 52.5 million dollars abroad at the opening and on the stock exchanges today. Back then, Warner released the film in a select group of markets after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, then withheld some to move away from the James Bond film. There is no time to die. Let us remember that at that time we lived in a very different world. Covid was still raging in some areas and there was also that pesky day-and-date domestic Max release that made it imperative that the international go ahead to avoid piracy.

Other compositions we are listening to are Ready player one to 53 million dollars at the current exchange rate, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One with 85 million dollars in its pure opening weekend and that of Warner in 2022 the batman which was released over the weekend comparable to Dune: Part Two with 109 million dollars in prices comparable to the current exchange rate. For reference in terms of the IMAX of all this, oppenheimer opened at $114 million in the same markets at the current exchange rate.

Although Dune: Part Two doesn’t open in China until March 8, the first film will be released next weekend in an effort to drum up interest. Dune: Part One has been similarly reissued in about 60 markets ahead of this weekend. For the second part, Japan joins on March 15 and the Middle East (except for the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, which launch this weekend) on April 11. Part of the Middle East will be in previews for seven days starting this week, then will go dark during Ramadan before its official opening on April 11.

A series of overseas fan event screenings were held in places including Mexico City, Paris and Seoul, with the official world premiere taking place in London on February 15.