The break-even point for Denis Villenueve’s Dune remains unknown, but in most cases it tends to be two or three times the production budget once marketing and distribution costs are factored in, so we’ll generously put it at $350 million before the sci-fi blockbuster can begin turning a profit.
That’s a relatively small number under normal circumstances, but the pandemic has had a seismic effect on how the biggest movies have performed in theaters. If somebody told you in late 2019 that James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad wouldn’t come close to sniffing $200 million globally, you’d have laughed them out the building, but the R-rated comic book adaptation didn’t even manage to recoup its $185 million budget.
The good news for Dune is that it’s outperforming expectations both at home and abroad, and will comfortably sail past the $200 million barrier by the end of today, as per Deadline. Having already set records for an HBO Max hybrid release on both Thursday and Friday, that’ll continue through to the end of play on Sunday, and it’s also playing better than expected in China.
Originally on track for a $20 million bow in the world’s largest market for cinema, that’s now been revised to $35 million, in addition to an overseas total that was already well in excess of $150 million heading into the current frame. Looks like we’ll be getting Dune: Part Two after all, which must be a huge relief for Villenueve.
