Cinemas were looking for a savior and ” Dune: Part Two ” fulfills the promise. Armed with sandworms, big screen spectacle and star power Timothee Chalamet, Denis Villeneuve The sci-fi epic took the North American box office by storm this weekend, earning $81.5 million in ticket sales, the studio estimated Sunday.
Internationally, it earned $97 million and had a global debut of $178.5 million.
“Denis made a truly outstanding and special film, and it was exciting to see people’s reactions,” said Mary Parent, producer of both “Dune” films and chairman of global production at Legendary. “It was made for the big screen and it feels like it’s being treated like a cinematic event.”
This is the first big hit of 2024, which exhibitors desperately needed. Although there were remnants of December that continued to generate income, such as Warner Bros. ” Wonka (also starring Chalamet) and Sony’s romantic comedy Anyone But You are experiencing a bit of a box office drought. In the first two months of 2024, no films topped $100 million domestically. The highest-grossing films were The Beekeeper, Bob Marley: One Love and Mean Girls.
Dune 2 generated excellent reviews (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and entered a market largely free of competition. Warner Bros. released it to 4,071 locations in the US and Canada, where audiences across the board gave it the highest PostTrak and A CinemaScore scores. According to the outlet, 59% of weekend ticket buyers were male and 64% were over 25 years old. The sequel was primarily financed by Legendary, and its production budget, which was previously reported to be around $122 million, is close to $190 million.
“It’s really captured the market,” said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. “This is a cultural moment around the world.”
Premium wide-format screens such as IMAX and 70mm accounted for 48% of opening weekend sales. This set a March record for IMAX, accounting for $18.5 million in total revenue. Villeneuve shot the film with IMAX cameras. In contrast ” Oppenheimer“, filmed digitally, but with additional time with a delayed impact they could also make film prints and the film format is popular with audiences.
“Our most iconic film locations have been virtually sold out for weeks,” said IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond.
The $81.5 million debut is also a record for director Villeneuve and stars Chalamet, Austin Butler and Rebecca Ferguson.
Originally scheduled for release in October 2023, Warner Bros. postponed the film to March due to Hollywood Strikes this would prevent its star cast from participating in advertising campaigns. The global promotional tour has been going on for about a month, accompanied by conversations and high-profile interviews. Popcorn bucket inspired by viral sandworm and eye-popping fashion moments from stylish young actors reaching their peak Silver Cyborg Zendaya (vintage Mugler) in London. They made stops in Mexico City, South Korea, Abu Dhabi and New York.
“We worked really hard to be ready for that (original) date, but we really felt like, especially with such an incredible cast, it was worth the wait,” Parent said.
Goldstein added that there was “a lot of debate” about whether to release the film during the strikes, but they knew they needed the cast to “bring the film to its full potential.”
“They don’t make movie stars anywhere except in theaters,” Goldstein said. “A movie on a big screen with big sound and that overall experience makes a big star or shows the talent of a big star anyway.”
First ” Dune » opened under difficult conditions in October 2021. This was one of the last Warner Bros. films. controversial plan to simultaneously debut in theaters and on its streaming platform. And yet it still worked $40 million opening weekend and grossed over $400 million worldwide.
“Denis Villeneuve is right up there with Christopher Nolan as a director whose name alone inspires people to go to the movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
This weekend, he added, will “make a big difference.”
Heading into the weekend, the box office was down about 20% compared to the same period last year (when Avatar: The Way of Water, a 2022 release, was lifting everything). The closest equivalent this year is Wonka, which is still a success but not as popular as Avatar 2. After the Dune weekend, the deficit will approach 13%.
“It shows how important one film can be to the overall health of the industry,” Dergarabedian said. “But this is not a one-time miracle of March. This is a dynamic business. Now we’re going to put the wind back in our sails as we head into March, April and the summer movie season.”
Warner Bros. is one of those studios that will be back with another big movie soon: Godzilla x Kong in late March, followed by Furiosa in May, the Beetlejuice sequel in September, and Beetlejuice in September. Sequel to “Joker” in October.
“This is our year,” Goldstein said. “Exhibitors are fighting for their lives, but we can be smart and work with them to keep our business relevant to audiences.”
Estimated ticket sales are Friday through Sunday at theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to Comscore. Final internal data will be released on Monday.
1. “Dune: Part Two,” $81.5 million.
2. “Bob Marley: One Love,” $7.4 million.
3. “Ordinary Angels,” $3.9 million.
4. Madame Web, $3.2 million.
5. “The Chosen: Season 4, Episodes 7–8,” $3.2 million.
6. “Migration, $2.5 million.
7. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Hashi,” $2.1 million.
8. “Wonka,” $1.7 million.
9. Argyle, $1.4 million.
10. “The Beekeeper,” $1.1 million.