Box office: ‘Dune: Part Two’ opens massive with $179.5 million worldwide

Edward Douglas
·5 min read
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The big box office news story of the weekend was always going to be about the opening of Denis Villeneuve‘s sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two” … and it was. Read on for the weekend box office report.

Famously delayed from its original November release due to the actors and writers strike, “Dune: Part Two” took advantage of the longer lead time to get the hot young cast of Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler and Florence Pugh out and about to promote the film. What really helped greatly was the almost overwhelmingly positive critics’ reviews that declared “Part Two” to be better than “Part One.” The movie ended up with 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, the best showing for a movie since the actual awards season in November and December.

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Warner Bros. opened Villeneuve’s latest in 4,071 theaters with Thursday previews bringing in $12 million, including $2 million from earlier previews and $4.5 million of that amount coming from IMAX screens. “Dune: Part Two” grossed $32.2 million on Friday (including those previews), which was the best single-day opening at the box office since “Five Nights at Freddy’s” $39.6 million in October and the $37.7 million opening for “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” a few weeks earlier. Although “Dune: Part Two” seemed like it might be front-loaded for the weekend, it actually did decently on Saturday, and Warner Bros. estimates it to win the weekend with $81.5 million domestic. Nearly 23% of that comes from IMAX, which brought in roughly $18.5 million, a record March opening for IMAX. The sci-fi sequel received an “A” on CinemaScore, which is better than the “A-” from the first movie, and a terrific 95% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.

UPDATE: Warners reports that “Dune: Part Two” made even more than originally reported, as “Dune: Part Two’s” actual opening weekend box office is now updated to $82.5 million in North America.

Overseas, “Dune: Part Two” also did fantastically, reported to have brought in $42.4 million through Friday in 71 markets (many in which it opened earlier in the week), and then, $97 million through Sunday for a global opening of $179.5 million. China and Japan will get Villeneuve’s movie sometime later this month.

SEE 2023 box office hits: Every movie that made more than $100 million

Back in North America, Paramount’s musical biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” dropped to second place with $7.4 million in 3,390 theaters, down 45%, which brings its domestic total to $82.8 million after three weekends.

HIlary Swank‘s faith-based drama “Ordinary Angels” miraculously held onto third place with $3.9 million, down just 38% from its opening weekend for $12.6 million in 10 days.

“Madame Web” lost almost 900 theaters in its third weekend, but it still managed to remain in fourth place with $3.2 million, down 46% from last weekend, with $40.4 million grossed in North America so far. It added another $5 million overseas this weekend, for a global total of $91 million.

As of now, that’s looking like the Top 4, despite Angel Studios releasing the final installment of “The Chosen” Season 4 episodes on Thursday into 2,215 locations. After making $760,630 on Thursday,$20k less than the previous installment, it brought in $971k on Friday and then $3.2 million for the weekend for a four-day total of $3.9 million.

Universal’s animated “Migration” may have its last major weekend, as it took sixth place with $2.5 million, down just 13% from last weekend, with a domestic total of $123.5 million.

Crunchyroll’s Anime “Demon Slayer – To The Hashira Training” took a massive 82% drop in its second weekend to drop all the way down to seventh place with $2.1 million and $15.7 million total. Don’t expect it to be in theaters much longer.

Eighth place went to Chalamet’s “Wonka” with $1.7 million and $216.8 million domestic.

SEE Grab the popcorn and sound off in our movie forums

Matthew Vaughn‘s action-comedy “Argylle” ended its own run in the Top 10 with just $1.4 million to take ninth place with $44 million made domestically.

Ethan Coen‘s “Drive-Away Dolls” barely held onto the Top 10 with $1 million, down 58% in its second weekend, for a North American total of $4.3 million.

Julio Torres‘ comedy “Problemista,” co-starring Tilda Swinton, scored $141,000 in five New York and L.A. theaters, averaging $28,187 per venue. A24 plans to expand it on Friday before going nationwide on March 22.

It will be interesting to see how this weekend’s box office prediction game pans out, because most players had “Dune: Part Two” making $75 to $100 million, but fewer had “Ordinary Angels” in third place, and fourth place may be too close to call with 14 players picking “The Chosen” to take it, and then, 12 players placing it fifth. Either way, 14 will be the cap for players going 6-for-6.

Nine players got a perfect score in the February 23 game with 2023 leader board champ “Max” back on top with 62,583 points, thanks to his Super Bet on “Migration” taking fifth place.

Three new movies open on Friday, including DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 4,” the horror film “Imaginary,” and the religious biopic “Cabrini,” so check back on Wednesday to see how well they might do in our weekly weekend preview.

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