It’s yet to open in some of the major territories, but Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is mining some impressive spice at the international box, where its takings in France, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Spain, among others, have seen its total rise to $77M.
The much anticipated sci-fi opus took $26.3M from 32 marketplaces, with the key piece of information being the slender drop of just 32% from the opening weekend. It’s a decline which sees Dune running ahead of Tenet (+12%), Black Widow (+49%), and Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (+64%) at the same stages of their runs. It held its number one spot in each of the countries in which it had opened, and also made a mark in the Middle East, with $1M in the UAE, and around about the same amount in Saudi Arabia.
Internationally Dune has a couple of weeks head-start on No Time To Die, which begins its rollout this week in the UK. Dune isn’t set to open there until late October, which is on-par with North America’s day-and-date release on HBO Max, and provides the Denis Villeneuve directed blockbuster with its sternest financial test.
Elsewhere, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ousted studio rival Black Widow ($186.7M) to become the highest grossing domestic film of the year with a cume of $196.5M. A fourth weekend at number one did the trick for the Marvel blockbuster, with a $13.3M take trouncing the critically lambasted Broadway adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, which had nothing to write home about with a paltry $7.5M.
A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
Dune is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049) and sees Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) leading the cast alongside Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Dave Bautista (Avengers: Infinity War), Stellan Skarsgard (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again), Charlotte Rampling (Red Sparrow), Zendaya (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Javier Bardem (Loving Pablo), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Sex Education), and Chang Chen (The Assassin).
Dune is set for release in the US and the UK on October 22nd.
