Dune's international box office is currently outpacing those of Shang-Chi, Blade Runner 2049, and Godzilla vs. Kong. Denis Villeneuve's epic adaptation of Frank Herbert's beloved sci-fi novel of the same name opened in a number of international markets over the weekend after premiering at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. Dune is set to release both theatrically and on HBO Max in the United States on October 22.
The release of Villeneuve's hotly anticipated film is one the industry will be keeping a close eye on, for a number of reasons. The director was among the most prominent dissenters when Warner Bros. announced it would debut its entire 2021 slate day-and-date on HBO Max, and he has since used his press tour to champion the theatrical viewing experience, turning Dune into a high-profile case study for blockbuster film distribution at a potential turning-point for the industry. Additionally, Villeneuve gambled by adapting only half of the novel despite not yet having a green-light for Dune: Part Two, and the film's combined box office- and streaming performance will determine whether fans get the chance to see his vision for the complete story.
Now, WB has released the numbers from Dune's first weekend at the international box office, and the early results are strong. In a total of 24 markets, Villeneuve's film ranked #1 in virtually all of them, taking in a combined $36.8 million. When compared like-for-like with other releases, this beats out a number of the top pandemic-era films, tracking +4% ahead of Tenet, +33% ahead of Black Widow, +58% ahead of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and +80% ahead of Godzilla vs. Kong. Additionally, Dune's international opening weekend is also ahead of Villeneuve's previous movie's, Blade Runner 2049, by +52%.
Of its international openings, Russia and France proved the biggest at $7.6 and $7.5 million, respectively - in the former, Dune nearly surpassed It: Chapter 2 to become the country's largest ever September release. In Italy, Villeneuve's film earned the best non-Italian opening since March 2020. IMAX screenings have accounted for 10% of the total gross so far, taking in $3.6 million from only 142 screens, for an average of $25,000 each, suggesting the director's pleas to see Dune on the biggest screen possible have not fallen on deaf ears.
Much in the way of Shang-Chi's record-breaking Labor Day Weekend, these early numbers demonstrate not only a broad desire to see Dune, but a willingness to return to cinemas to do so. Should Dune underperform domestically, as has been the trend for day-and-date releases thus far, it will be the most definitive sign yet that maintaining a window of theatrical exclusivity remains the way to go moving forward. Also, in that case, these international receipts would also be Villeneuve's strongest argument for WB to produce Dune: Part Two as a theatrical release, as they evidence how the distribution strategy, not the film itself, hampered its box office potential. It's still uncertain if American audiences will choose to see Dune in theaters despite its online availability, but if they don't, fans dying to see the rest of the story in IMAX will have to keep their fingers crossed that its performance abroad is convincing enough to the studio.
Source: WB
