Sandworms emerge on the desert planet Arrakis in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Half Two.”
Warner Bros. | Legendary Leisure
After a two-month drought, “Dune: Half Two” has delivered a much-welcomed deluge of ticket gross sales to the home field workplace — and its success might deliver a 3rd franchise movie to cinemas.
The Warner Bros. and Legendary Leisure movie opened with an estimated $81.5 million on the field workplace, the best of any movie launched to this point in 2024.
“Like an oasis within the desert, ‘Dune: Half Two’ is a sight for sore eyes throughout theatrical exhibition and all of Hollywood,” mentioned Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic, the second within the Dune franchise, was buoyed by IMAX ticket gross sales, which represented round 23% of home ticket gross sales, or $18.5 million.
“The one cause it wasn’t greater is we ran out of seats,” mentioned Wealthy Gelfond, CEO of IMAX.
Gelfond famous that presales of the movie have been “actually spectacular” and that in lots of areas, tickets for IMAX screenings aren’t out there till three weeks out.
“The lesson is that if you happen to take a lovely visible expertise, story and you set it within the palms of an excellent filmmaker with an IMAX digicam, you are going to get excellent outcomes,” Gelfond mentioned.
Notably, the whole lot of “Dune: Half Two” was filmed utilizing IMAX digital cameras.
Expectations from studio executives, theater house owners and field workplace analysts are that the movie could have an extended tail in cinemas and proceed to gather robust ticket gross sales within the weeks to return. Comparable, Gelfond mentioned, to Common’s “Oppenheimer” and Disney’s “Avatar: The Manner Of Water.”
Internationally, the movie is predicted to tally $97 million, bringing its world haul to $178.5 million. IMAX represented 18% of all worldwide ticket gross sales, the corporate mentioned. The movie will debut in China on March 8.
“I feel this can be a film the place you already know the phrase of mouth goes to hold it,” Josh Grode, CEO of Legendary Leisure informed CNBC. “It’s a stupendous piece of filmmaking. There is no different method to say it. I’ve nearly run out of adjectives.”
Grode did not dismiss rumors of a possible third movie within the franchise, noting that, “Now we have to have all inventive stakeholders aligned and help the imaginative and prescient.”
“I feel everyone may be very excited and actually having fun with this second and if Denis [Villeneuve] will get the script proper and he feels that he can ship one other expertise on par with what we have simply accomplished then I do not see why not,” he mentioned.
Timothee Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Half Two.”
Warner Bros. | Legendary Leisure
The robust opening for “Dune: Half Two” comes after the movie was faraway from the 2023 film calendar as a result of twin Hollywood labor strikes made it not possible for forged members to advertise the movie publicly.
Grode famous that Legendary Leisure struggled with the choice to maneuver the movie out of its November slot and to a brand new date in March. Nonetheless, he felt that with out a advertising and marketing marketing campaign “that matched the film” the movie won’t attain as many moviegoers.
“Hindsight is at all times 2020, however I feel it could be completely the correct choice,” he mentioned.
The movie’s forged has been closely selling the movie for weeks, taking part in junkets, video interviews and showing on late-night exhibits. Even the celebs’ premiere outfits have been making headlines, driving extra consciousness of the movie’s launch.
Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya attend the World Premiere of “Dune: Half Two” in Leicester Sq. in London, England, on Feb. 15, 2024.
Gareth Cattermole | Getty Photos Leisure | Getty Photos
Alongside trade veterans akin to Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Dave Bautista, “Dune: Half Two” options 4 of the most important younger stars in Hollywood: Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler.
Heading into the weekend, the home field workplace had tallied lower than $900 million in ticket gross sales by the primary two months of the yr, an almost 18% drop from the identical interval in 2023, in accordance with Comscore information. A lift at first of the yr might show essential to a field workplace that is nonetheless struggling to reclaim $10 billion in home annual ticket gross sales, a mark final seen earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In any given field workplace yr there’s a turning level and in 2024 the ‘Dune: Half Two’ debut represents a milestone in a yr bereft of blockbuster-sized choices,” mentioned Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “The field workplace yr of ’24 formally kicked off this weekend two months late and never a second too quickly and can assist construct the much-needed momentum for March and past for film theaters.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the father or mother firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Oppenheimer.”
