“Dune: Part II” earned $12 million in Thursday previews — it’s the biggest amount any movie has taken in since “Barbie” and it beat out the “Oppenheimer” total by over a million dollars. Initial audience reception is very positive. I’d wager that a $75-$80 million debut awaits Denis Villeneuve’s epic, maybe more.
In New York City, the film is sold out everywhere — even the 3:15am showing at the AMC Lincoln Square has no seats left. Can you just imagine leave a movie theater at 6:15am? I’d feel like a zombie. It’s like that all over NYC, Los Angeles, and Chicago, which Showbiz411 confirmed via his research on Fandango.
Reviews are definitely helping the surge — the film stands at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes — and the cast is full of big names. I’m guessing, with word of mouth about to spread further, this one will have some legs in the coming weeks. The budget is said to be around $190 million. I’ll make sure to open a reader reaction thread on the weekend.