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Thirsty movie theater chains are priming for a big cinema weekend, with Dune: Part Two (NASDAQ:WBD) set to draw the best opening weekend in months (and perhaps since last summer’s Barbie).
The Warner Bros. (WBD) sequel to the 2021 novel adaptation Dune: Part One is likely to inject some life into a moribund box office even if it doesn’t reach Barbie’s high-heel heights.
The film, again starring a prominent cast led by Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, drew $12M in Thursday previews. That’s more than twice as good as previews for the first movie, which was dampened by a COVID-19 pandemic decision to release it simultaneously to HBO Max. Dune: Part One opened to $41M en route to a total domestic haul of $109M and a worldwide total of $433.8M.
Now Warner Bros. (WBD) is staying conservative with its estimates, tabbing the new sequel to a $65M domestic opening and $75M internationally. The film looks to be tracking higher, though — to a domestic opening between $70M and $80M, and some are estimating even up to $90M-$100M, which would put it in the territory of best opening since October’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour ($93M) or since Barbie opened to $162M in July.
Of the $12M in preview grosses, IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) made up $4.5M of that. The blockbuster-friendly IMAX format will show the new Dune on 802 screens in 81 countries.
Dune: Part Two is also opening in 71 overseas markets this weekend, with China to follow on March 8.
All in all, it’s shaping up to be among the strongest industry weekends since Christmas week brought a dozen new releases.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (CNNWQ); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).