International Courant
Ticket gross sales on the field workplace this weekend might be flowing as freely as spice on the desert planet of Arrakis.
Director Denis Villeneuve’s big-budget sequel “Dune: Half Two,” the place “spice” is an omnipotent commodity, is concentrating on $70 million to $80 million in its opening weekend. Warner Bros., the studio behind the sci-fi epic, is conservatively projecting a $65 million begin, though most field workplace prognosticators consider that revenues might method the $90 million mark. On the worldwide field workplace, the follow-up to 2021’s “Dune” is projected to gather $80 million to $90 million from roughly 70 markets.
Regardless of the place the preliminary tally finally ends up, “Dune: Half Two” will ship an enormous, obligatory jolt for film theaters. It was initially slated to hit the large display screen final fall, but it surely was delayed to spring as a result of the actors’ strike prevented Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and their co-stars from with the ability to promote the film. Now, it is arriving at a dire time for the business, with revenues down roughly 18% from 2023. Primarily based on present estimates, the sequel ought to rating the largest opening weekend since final October’s Blumhouse thriller “5 Nights at Freddy’s” ($80 million).
Ticket gross sales are anticipated to exceed its predecessor, which opened in the course of the pandemic to $41 million whereas touchdown concurrently on HBO Max. “Dune: Half One” ended its run with $402 million worldwide, one of many solely monetary wins from the studio’s COVID-era hybrid launch technique. Nonetheless, analysts felt the unique would have been larger with an unique theatrical launch. The sequel, co-produced and co-financed by Legendary Leisure, price $190 million, not together with the numerous tens of millions on advertising and marketing and different international promotional efforts.
“Half Two” is that this weekend’s solely new launch, so it will command the lion’s share of Imax and Dolby screens. For “Half One,” 50% of home income got here from premium giant codecs. “Dune” additionally appears to be like to learn from pent-up demand (there hasn’t been a blockbuster in weeks) and goodwill in direction of the unique. However will the second chapter be capable to increase its fanbase of sci-fi buffs?
Primarily based on the second half of Frank Herbert’s large ebook, “Dune 2” continues the legendary quest of Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, who stays on the run and in search of security within the desert after {powerful} royals betray his household. Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken be a part of the sprawling solid of Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin and Stellan Skarsgård.
Reception and phrase of mouth has been optimistic, with Selection’s chief movie critic Peter Debruge praising the sequel as “a meaty, all-encompassing narrative.” Los Angeles Occasions critic Joshua Rothkopf referred to as the movie “an on the spot landmark of its style.”
Critiques are good, however film theaters wish to promote tickets. And “Dune 2” ought to assist with that.
