Denis Villenueve needs Dune to hit big at the box office so that Warner Bros. will give the green light to a sequel, and critics will be hoping that it happens too, given that one of the few criticisms leveled at the sci-fi blockbuster so far is that it feels like an incomplete story
The good news is that the latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal novel has been approved for release in the all-important Chinese market, with broad fantasy and effects-driven Hollywood efforts always tending to fare pretty well in the country. Dune began its international rollout last weekend, and has continued to reap the financial rewards as per Deadline.
The movie brought in an additional $26 million to bring the overseas total to $77 million, and it’s still tracking ahead of Tenet, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Godzilla vs. Kong outside of domestic shores, which is an encouraging sign.
With a budget of $165 million plus marketing costs, you’d have to imagine that Dune needs $400 million globally at the bare minimum just to break even, but there’s no reason why it can’t hit those heights. After all, Godzilla vs. Kong and Fast & Furious 9 are the only two Hollywood titles of the pandemic era to have exceeded that figure so far, and a huge helping hand came from a robust showing in China.