Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” film will begin its international rollout this weekend, the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 classic opening in 24 markets including France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain.
Deadline reports the film is on track to launch in the mid-$20 million range in those markets. Like-for-like, Villeneuve’s last film “Blade Runner 2049” scored $22.8 million while this year’s biggest earner “Black Widow” made $24.4 million.
Piracy is expected to be less of a concern as the film doesn’t hit the U.S. and HBO Max until October 22nd, well over a month away. The European release will follow in the wake of a successful launch in Venice.
The move also gives the film a jump on the September 29th overseas rollout of the new James Bond film “No Time To Die”.
The film has also found itself the target of IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond who told Puck that piracy is the main thing that “kills [day-and-date] movies pretty early in the theatrical run” and cites both “Dune” and in particular “The Matrix Revolutions” as film that are “not going to achieve their potential” which he claims they would if they had scored exclusive theatrical runs.
The talk comes as analysis firm Gower Street Analytics has indicated (via Variety) that 2020’s global box-office is forecast to hit $20 billion by year’s end – a 68% rebound on 2020 ($12 billion) but still 52% below 2019 ($42.3 billion).
