Denis Villeneuve’s Dune 2 broke box office expectations in its first weekend, giving Warner Bros significant market leverage.
“ Dune: Part Two ” exceeded even the most optimistic box office expectations, grossing $81.5 million domestically during its first weekend. The sci-fi epic authored by Denis Villeneuve also added $97 million outside the US, bringing the total to $178 million worldwide.
The sequel to the critically acclaimed Dune is faring much better than the first chapter. Dune grossed $41 million domestically in its first weekend, though numbers were still likely dimmed by the latest bout of COVID in some areas.
Warner Bros, the film’s studio, expected a much more conservative $65 million first-weekend box office. Others suggested it could have gone as up as $80 million.
This marks the best weekend for Warner Bros in its post-pandemic era. The world-famous studio is undergoing a deep financial and creative crisis, with talks of a merger/sale in the works for 2025.
CEO David Zaslav will likely use Dune: Part Two as a sweetener for an upcoming deal. Similarly, he signed multi-million dollar contracts with the likes of Tom Cruise, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling in an attempt to make the studio more desirable.
Box office breakdown
Still, the success of Dune: Part Two was anything but certain. The almost 3-hour runtime, its characteristically slow and long shots, and a release next to a Marvel movie would have turned off any producer just a couple of years ago.
Instead, Dune: Part Two demolished Marvel’s “ Madame Web ” and its $91 million worldwide box office.
“Audiences are responding to the combination of Denis Villeneuve’s ability to tell a story in an extraordinary way and the extraordinary cast,” said Warner’s president of domestic distribution Jeff Goldstein.
There’s also the simple fact that audiences were attracted to the movie theater. Vanity Fair reported that IMAX and 70mm theaters, which ensure the best possible audiovisual experience, amounted to 48% of domestic sales.
Warner’s strategy of simultaneously releasing Dune 1 in streaming on HBO Max proved unsuccessful. This showed Warner Bros that audiences will give up comfort to experience a film that needs to be seen in theaters.
Dune 2 has not been released in streaming yet but managed to break box office expectations anyway.
In a post-pandemic world, movies like Dune 2 attract audiences to theaters, which then boosts streaming views. Releasing a blockbuster in theaters and streaming together is simply a failed strategy.
Dune 2 is the first major box office hit since October’s The Ears Tour by Taylor Swift. Villeneuve’s epic should have been released last year but got delayed by the Hollywood strikes. As Hollywood adjusts its 2024 release schedule, news about Dune 2’s success is filling the industry with unexpected optimism.
