‘Dune: Part Two’ Will Dust Off The Box Office With $170M Global Debut

https://deadline.com/2024/02/dune-part-two-box-office-worldwide-projection-1235839654/

The second part to Denis Villeneuve’s multi-Oscar-winning 2021 feature take of the classic Frank Herbert novel could very well see a $170M worldwide opening — that’s divided into $85M–$90M abroad and another $80M on the high end in U.S./Canada. Warners conservatively is projecting $65M, but most exhibitors and tracking services see near $80M.

Note that a $65M-$80M domestic opening would be wonders above the $41M domestic opening of 2021’s Dune, which saw its ticket sales siphoned by a theatrical day-and-date release on streaming service HBO Max back in early October that year. Still, Dune is one of a handful of day-and-date titles to cross $100M at the domestic box office and one of only two to cross $400M-plus worldwide, along with Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong. It was one of the few blockbusters that worked both in homes and theaters, but it certainly left money on the table.

Dune: Part Two is booked at 4,050 theaters in U.S./Canada, with 3,400 locations going on Thursday previews. The pic already has yielded $2M from an Imax Fans First Event on Sunday that will be rolled up into Thursday’s number. The movie will be playing in every premium format, i.e. Screen X, Dolby, D-Box — the list goes on.

The sequel begins overseas rollout on Wednesday, starting in France, Korea, Italy and Scandinavia. Thursday adds 42 markets including Germany, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and all of Latin America. On Friday, Spain and the UK join the play to round out a international launch in 71 markets.