Dune: Part Two was expected to make quite a splash once it hit the theatres, but it somehow managed to exceed our wildest expectations. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic scored the highest opening weekend of 2024 so far with 178.5 million grossed worldwide.
Dune: Part Two hit the theatres on March 1, after its release date was pushed in the face of labor disputes in Hollywood last year. With $81.5 million grossed domestically and an additional $97 million in other territories, it topped the box office with a massive $178.5 million worldwide opening.
Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Jeff Goldstein, described Dune: Part Two as a cultural moment and praised it for managing to capture the marketplace all around the globe.
“Audiences are responding to the combination of Denis Villeneuve’s ability to tell a story in an extraordinary way and the extraordinary cast. This is a moment for Timothée Chalamet,” Goldstein told Variety.
Dune: Part Two is a huge hit on premium format screens, such as IMAX, and Villeneuve’s decision to film it with IMAX cameras certainly paid off. IMAX screenings accounted for $18.5 million of domestic ticket sales, representing 23% of the market share, and the company’s CEO Rich Gelfond said “The only reason it wasn’t higher is we ran out of seats,” adding they’ve been sold out for weeks in advance.
