Warner Bros.’ Dune looks to have taken in $40.1 million at the box office in its opening weekend. This is despite the picture, directed by Denis Villeneuve, being released on HBO Max, free to subscribers. It appears that many felt that this was a cinematic epic that needed to be experienced on the big screen.
This bested Godzilla vs. Kong which was also released on HBO Max and opened to $31.6M at the box office, making this the best performance of a Warner Bros./HBO Max release and marks Denis Villeneuve’s best domestic opening.
In addition to the day-and-date HBO Max release, Warner Bros. employed the unconventional tactic of releasing Dune overseas first, where it has exceeded expectations and performed incredibly well. This also allowed word of mouth to spread as foreign audiences have been talking up Dune for weeks now, further encouraging North American audiences to head out to the multiplexes, and even spend extra for larger formats like IMAX or Dolby to get the full experience.
Dune was a little bit of a hard sell in the U.S. being a high-concept science-fiction drama and not the usual family-friendly popcorn flick. (In other words, it’s no Star Wars or Marvel movie.) It is also well-known that this is just part one of two. Audiences know they aren’t getting a full movie experience.
Perhaps, working in its favor, Dune does boast one of the most star-studded casts in recent memory: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.
At any rate, critics have reacted favorably. Dune has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 92% audience score. Via PostTrak, exiting audience members gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
- Dune (Warner Bros.) – $40.1M/Wk 1
- Halloween Kills (Universal) – $14.5M/Total $73.1M/Wk 2
- No Time To Die (United Artists Releasing) – $11.9M/Total $120M/Wk 3
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) – $9.1M/Total $181.8M/Wk 4
- Ron’s Gone Wrong (20th Century Studios/Disney) – $7.3M/Wk 1
October was jam-packed with major releases, so expect things to slow down. Just in time for Halloween, the horror movie Antlers is opening. Don’t discount My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission. That is probably the most popular anime in the world right now and the films, even in smaller releases, have been performing really well in cinemas.
What are you looking forward to seeing next weekend?
