Dune Opening Weekend Box Office Revised Up To $41 Million
Dune's opening weekend box office has been revised up to $41 million, building on previous reports that placed Denis Villeneuve's remake of Frank Herbert's iconic sci-fi story in the range of $33-39M for its opening weekend. This new revised box office estimate is just more good news for Warner Bros. Pictures, after already learning that Dune scored the biggest opening of any WB film during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the film is also the biggest box office hit in the studio's lineup of HBO Max simultaneous releases. The new estimate on Dune comes after the film took in an impressive $10M at the Sunday box office.
Dune made approximately $87.5M over the weekend, worldwide, bringing its current global box office haul to $220.7M. Warner Bros. is already jumping on those numbers as a badge of success, with Warner Bros. Theatrical Domestic Distribution head Jeff Goldstein saying: "Denis made an extraordinary movie and fans are enthusiastically appreciating it and spreading excellent word of mouth."
Dune is estimated to have had a production and marketing budget that could now be upwards of $300M, given the delays and massive undertaking to shoot it. There's also the looming question of how much HBO Max streaming cut into the film's performance at the box office - the same question WarnerMedia has been trying to spin as a forward-thinking strength, all year.
However, unlike its predecessors (The Suicide Squad, Mortal Kombat, Dune is a franchise-starter blockbuster that immediately demands a follow-up. In truth, Villeneuve's new film only scratches the surface of the larger saga of Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and his convoluted warrior's journey. Dune is just the first part of what is supposed to be an epic trilogy, so this box office performance is everything.
...Or is it?
When Dune was releasing last week, WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff seemed to hint with heavy indication that a Dune sequel is already something of a done deal - no matter what happens on opening weekend: "Will we have a sequel to Dune? If you watch the movie you see how it ends. I think you pretty much know the answer to that."
A mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, "Dune" tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.—Warner Bros.
Dune is now in theaters, IMAX, and HBO Max.