The early numbers are in. Dune’s international box office has yielded sizeable takings over the weekend – and indicates Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi blockbuster is set to do well on the big screen.
As per Variety, the staggered worldwide release of Dune has already collected $36m. It may not seem like much, but it’s already proving a hit with limited capacity audiences in typically weak markets such as Russia, France, and Italy – and is not a figure to be dismissed in the pandemic era.
Villeneuve exclusively told sister publication SFX Magazine that the first movie would have to do "really badly" for it to not get a sequel.
The director also echoed those thoughts in an interview with Total Film: "[The studio] feel that it would need a really bad outcome at the box office to not have a Dune: Part Two, because they love the movie. They are proud of the movie, so they want the movie to move forward. And they still did half of it. So, you know, I’m very optimistic."
For more on what’s still to come in 2021, here are all of the major movie release dates headed your way.
