Dune 2 Box Office is off to a strong start overseas

Timothée Chalamet in “Dune: Part 2.”

Warner Bros.

The long-awaited Denis Villeneuve Sand Dunes: Part Two The film is off to a promising start at the foreign box office, opening with $5.2 million on Wednesday from its first 13 markets. Including previews, the current foreign tally is $7.6 million.

The Legendary and Warner Bros. It debuts in a raft of additional countries today before rolling out in a total of 71 territories by the end of the week. France topped the list on Wednesday with $1.4 million, followed by South Korea with $1.1 million.

Sand dunes 2 It opens everywhere in North America on Friday after Thursday evening previews. Tracking suggests it could achieve a global opening of $150 million to $175 million, though Warners is more cautious and suggests closer to $140 million. The box office could benefit from a quick start after a dismal winter start due to production slowdowns due to strike-related delays.

Overseas, tracking and advance ticket sales suggest the tentpole could start at $85 million. This does not include several major markets, including China, where the support bar will not open until the end of next week, followed by Japan the week after that.

Science fiction can be a difficult genre in some markets, such as parts of Latin America, however Sand dunes 2 It could defy the trend based on the first film's performance and stellar reviews. Its current critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes stands at 95 percent, compared to 83 percent for the first film. Sand dunes.

Released in 2021, Villeneuve Sand dunes It grossed more than $402 million at the worldwide box office, a promising number given the ongoing pressures of the pandemic and the fact that it was released daily on what was then called HBO Max. The lion's share, or $325 million, came from foreign box offices.

This time, expectations are much higher.

Legendary made the difficult decision to postpone the film's release from last fall to now so that Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya would be available to promote the film and help expand the audience. Both have an impact on younger viewers.

The long game, versus its opening weekend, will be the true test of director Denis Villeneuve's sequel in terms of solidifying a new Legendary franchise.

Villeneuve wants to make another film, Dune: Christwhile Warners has a sub-series, Dune: ProphecyIt is scheduled to be released on Max later this year.

The expanded cast includes series newcomers Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken, joining Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista and Charlotte Rampling.