Dune: Part One proved an interesting case study as it was released while theatres were still hamstrung by closures and crowd limits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite those limitations, Dune: Part One delivered a rock-solid domestic box office of $108 million and a worldwide box office of $433 million. That was good enough for a spot among the top 15 performances in 2021, an impressive showing for the first installment of a dense science fiction fantasy series.
Dune: Part Two delivered a terrific showing in its opening weekend. It posted gross domestic box office sales of $82.5 million. Meanwhile, it has posted a worldwide gross of $189 million at the time of this writing. It blew away its competition over the weekend. Bob Marley: One Love delivered a domestic total of $7.43 million while the rest of the top five were unable to breach $4 million in gross box office revenues.
The weekend total for Dune: Part Two was greater than the top three opening weekends of the year combined. However, this would have been just the ninth-best opening weekend of 2023. That should not discourage cinemas. The first instalment showed staying power over its run, and Dune: Part Two has been given wide critical and audience praise. It currently holds a 94% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 95% audience score, illustrating its broad appeal.
Dune: Part Two will be relied upon to do the heavy lifting for cinemas for the first half of the month of March. However, Kung-Fu Panda 4 also has the potential to pick up the slack with its March 8 release date.
