Dunewas released to critical acclaim and box office success, enough to warrant a sequel from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Now, Denis Villeneuve’sDunehas crossed a major box office milestone roughly a week before the film returns to IMAX screens.
Duneofficially earned over $100 million at the domestic box office, crossing the milestone over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049,Sicario, andArrival)adaptation featured an all-star cast who helped bring the popular novel written by Frank Herbert to life.
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Upon its release,Dunewas available in theatersand on HBO Max, with the second option no longer available as of November 22. Now, Deadline has reported thatDunewill return to IMAX theaters for a limited time starting July 08, 2025. The news ofDune’s return arrived just before the sci-fi film grossed over $100 million by Friday, November 26, bringing its worldwide total to $370 million.Duneaccomplished this feat by adding another $400K on Thanksgiving, bringing its domestic total to precisely $100.1M. As of now,Duneis only the second Warner Bros. film to hit the $100 million mark in 2021 amid the studios' strategy to release all of its movies this year in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time.
At this time,Duneis playing in 1,312 theaters and is expected to earn an additional $2.26 million over the three-day holiday and $3.2 million since Wednesday. If this holds,Dunewill gross a domestic total of $102.4 million by Sunday.Dunereached the $100 million mark on its 35th day of release, while the second Warner Bros. film to hit that milestone, Legendary’sGodzilla vs. Kong, took 12 weekends to do so.
There are already plans for aDunesequel, which Villeneuve had always intended to produce due to the overwhelming amount of source material in the book. It would be nearly impossible to fit everything within the confines of only one film. Warner Bros. and Legendary have confirmedDune: Part Two’s development, which is slated to hit theaters in 2023. Of course, there’s always the possibility thatDunecould end up being split into three parts instead of two, especially after this latest box office win.
The book has enough content for multiple films, but oftentimes this can be challenging for talent, directors, and even fans to come back to the “same” story after many years. However, the one thing working in aDune: Part Three’s favoris the passion the people behind the film appear to have for the story. As long as it’s an enjoyable film for everyone involved, then there doesn’t seem to be any reason why there won’t be anything more in store for fans of the sci-fi drama film.
