Dune: Part Two brought some spice to the box office this weekend—riding its cinematic sandworms to a colossal $81.5 million North American opening. About $18.5 million of that estimated haul came from screenings on gigantic IMAX theaters. “The only reason it wasn’t higher is we ran out of seats,” IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond told CNBC.
Not only is Dune: Part Two’s North American performance significantly higher than that of its predecessor (Dune: Part One opened with $41 million in 2021, when it was simultaneously released on HBO Max), but it’s already the third highest-grossing film of the year. And given that No. 1 Wonka and No. 2 Bob Marley: One Love have earned just $83.6 million and $82.8 million in 2024, respectively, Part Two could claim the year’s top spot by this time tomorrow.
Dune: Part Two was even more popular overseas, scraping in $97 million internationally. That brings the film’s worldwide gross to $178.5 million—the biggest global debut since Barbie and enough to make even a Harkonnen smile.
Everything else in theaters seemed a relative afterthought, with the second-place film taking in less than a tenth of the money that Dune: Part Two did.
And just what was that second-place film? Bob Marley: One Love, of course. After two weeks on top of the box office, the musical biopic slid a spot and earned $7.4 million. That pushes its worldwide gross to $146.1 million. And rest assured, One Love will still be jamming for weeks to come.
Ordinary Angels earned nearly $3.9 million this weekend, holding tight to third place. The faith-based film has now earned $12.6 million in its two-week run.
But Ordinary Angels wasn’t the only Christian offering to land in our top five this weekend. The Chosen pushed the last two episodes of Season Four into theaters and earned nearly $3.2 million—finishing just a needle’s eye behind fourth-place Madame Web, according to early estimates.
One other release to make note of: Land of the Bad, which rolled wider this weekend after a small Feb. 16 launch, mustered just $1.8 million to finish 10th.
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Well, “Dune: Part 2” was everything I could have hoped for and more. Such a rich, finely crafted, and magnificent film. Sure, Denis Villeneuve took some liberties with Frank Herbert’s novel. Heck, Peter Jackson took liberties with “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and look where that got HIM. At next year’s Oscars, don’t be surprised if Denis Villeneuve has his “Return of the King” moment. 10 out of 10 stars for me. I’ll probably see it again on the big screen.