Warner Bros. “Dune: Part Two” easily made its way to the top of the domestic box office this weekend, pulling in $81.5 million, the biggest opening of 2024, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.
The highly anticipated sequel to Oscar-winning director Denis Villeneuve's epic sci-fi thriller slightly beat early box office expectations, which predicted it would open with $70 million to $80 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Internationally, “Dune 2” opened with $97 million for a global cumulative total of $178.5 million, according to studio estimates.
The future blockbuster gave the domestic box office a much-needed boost after a nearly four-month drought that put pressure on exhibitors.
The last films to achieve this success in North American theaters were AMC Theaters' “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” ($93.2 million) and Universal Pictures' “Five Nights at Freddy's” ($80 million), both Released in October. Nothing has come close to achieving the levels of success achieved by “Barbie” ($162 million) since the doll-inspired comedy opened against Universal's “Oppenheimer” ($82.5 million) in July.
Before “Dune 2” arrived, domestic box office receipts were down 20% compared to 2023 and 40% compared to the pre-pandemic numbers that exhibitors had been chasing since 2019. This weekend's numbers dropped the year-over-year figure to 13%.
Movie theaters were still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic when Hollywood writers and actors went on strike last year, prompting major studios to postpone some of their biggest releases — including “Dune 2,” which was previously scheduled for a November 2023 release.
In third place came “Bob Marley: One Love,” produced by Paramount Pictures, which collected $7.4 million in its third frame, bringing its total revenues in North America to $82.8 million. And Lionsgate's “Ordinary Angels,” which added $3.9 million in its second film for a total of $12.6 million in North America.
Dune 2, based on Frank Herbert's classic novel, stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya as warriors fighting to save the desert planet Arrakis from the brutal and exploitative Harkonnens. The supporting cast includes Austin Butler, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux, Sohaila Yacob, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Florence Pugh.
Warner Bros. “Dune 2” is well positioned for success.
Due to the film's delayed release, the film's star-studded cast was able to go on a world tour to promote it, with Hollywood girl Zendaya and her impeccable fashion sense taking over social media.
A month before “Dune 2” hit theaters, the first “Dune” film was briefly re-released in IMAX and screened alongside an appetite-whetting sneak peak of the sequel. Meanwhile, the official popcorn bucket for “Dune 2” — modeled after the mouth of a sandworm native to Arrakis — went viral, and even inspired a “Saturday Night Live” sketch for reasons that won't be described here.
In another strategic move, the studio lifted its ban on reviewing “Dune 2” early, allowing critics to praise the film for more than a week before its debut. The red-hot sequel thus earned a glowing 94% on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and an A grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.
“Moral sincerity is less than generosity, [Villeneuve’s] “Part II plunges us into the book's messianic prophecies, but also into spiritual uncertainty, cultural conflict, and doubt, as it should be,” Times film editor Joshua Rothkopf wrote in his review.
“Villeneuve has pulled off one of Hollywood's greatest bets in recent memory, delivering a two-part epic with literary nuance, timely significance, and perhaps even the promise of another movie or two.”
Opening in wide release next weekend is Lionsgate's “Imaginary,” Universal's “Kung Fu Panda 4,” and Angel Studios' “Cabrini.”
