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After being delayed from its previous December 2020 release slot, Denis Villenueve’s Dune is a little over a month away from hitting theaters. Well, if you live in the United States, that is. But in various international markets like France, Germany, Italy and Russia, the latest film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel from 1965 is now playing, and the movie already collected an impressive amount of money in France alone.
Combining the Tuesday night preview screenings with all of Wednesday’s screenings, Deadline reports that Dune grossed $1.55 million during its first "day" of availability in France. Dune now ranks as France’s fourth highest movie launch in September, and it’s also Denis Villeneuve’s best opening in the country yet. There were reportedly 181,316 admissions, with “over performing premium formats” playing a big role in the financial success.
We’ll have to wait and see how Dune’s first day in Germany, Italy and Russia turns out, and the movie will also open tomorrow in Spain as part of the staggered international rollout. Still, it’s clear Dune is off to a strong commercial start, and opening weekend projections from just a few days ago estimated the movie will pull in something in the mid-$20 million range. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case, as well as if the movie will experience similar success stateside or not. Let’s also not forget that on the same day it hits domestic theaters, Dune will also be available to stream for 31 days on HBO Max, which you can subscribe to with this link.
Critically speaking, Dune has earned mostly positive reception after screening at events like the Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg gave the movie 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling it “the film interpretation” of the original source material “that fans have been waiting to see for decades.” Dune was previously adapted for the big screen by David Lynch in 1984, as well as turned into a miniseries for the then-Sci-Fi Channel in 2000.
Unlike David Lynch’s Dune movie, Denis Villenueve’s Dune only covers the first half of the original novel. While Warner Bros hasn’t officially greenlit a sequel to tell the second half, Villeneuve is optimistic that Dune 2 will move forward, and estimates that it could begin filming by fall 2022. Villeneuve has also expressed interest in helming an adaptation of 1969’s Dune Messiah, although if such a project ended up happening, that would be his final time directing a Dune movie.
U.S. moviegoers can look forward to Dune arriving on October 22, and its ensemble cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgård, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin and Dave Bautista. There’s also a prequel series in development for HBO Max called Dune: The Sisterhood. Our 2021 release schedule is available to those curious about the remaining movies set to arrive this year.
