Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s big-budget “Dune 2” collected $81.5 million in its opening weekend, a sparkling debut that breathed life into struggling North American theaters after a string of spectacular flops, Variety reported, citing the News. ro.

Certified Dune: Part TwoAs a result, Villeneuve’s feature became the best opening weekend of the year in North American theaters and the most consistent since the concert filmTour “Epokhy”. ($96 million) Taylor Swift as of October 2023.

“It’s a great opening for a sci-fi sequel,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research consultancy Variety, adding that “audiences connect with these people and vulnerable (characters).”

Backed by stellar reviews (on Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 93% from critics and 95% from audiences), Dunes 2 seems to have expanded its fan base beyond sci-fi fans.

Earlier this weekend, Warner Bros., the studio behind Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel, had estimated a $65 million North American debut, though most box office projections had it topping $80 million.

In the international box office, Dune: Part Two grossed $97 million with total ticket sales of $178 million in its opening weekend. “It really seeped into the culture,” says the producer DunesMary Parent.

Continuation of the first film Dunes Villeneuve’s 2021 film was originally set to hit the big screen last fall, but was pushed back to the spring due to the Hollywood actors’ strike, which prevented actors Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and others from promoting the film.

Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” has no competition at the box office

Sometime later, Paramount’s musical biopic, Bob Marley: One Love sold $7.4 million in tickets at 3,390 North American theaters.

The film, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the music legend, was a surprise box office hit, grossing $82.7 million in North America and $146 million worldwide.

Hilary Swank’s inspirational drama “Ordinary Angels” remained in third place with $3.8 million from 3,020 locations. After two weeks on the big screen, the film from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company collected only 12 million dollars. However, it seems that “Ordinary Angels” has a modest budget that could make up for this poor box office performance.

in fourth place Madame Webcontinued to struggle, grossing just $3.2 million from 3,116 theaters.

A Sony film in the franchise Spidermanstarring Dakota Johnson as a paramedic with paranormal abilities, had a production budget of $80 million and has so far grossed just $40 million domestically and $50 million internationally for a total of roughly $90 million.

With industry analysts saying that a big-budget film needs to earn at least two and a half times its production budget to offset the costs of worldwide promotion and distribution, we’re talking about another clear failure of the superhero movie genre.

2 new episodes of the Bible series Elect, which is now in its fourth season, entered the top five at the North American box office with $3.1 million from 2,215 theaters. Unusually for a series, this Christian series is shown in North American theaters rather than on television.

As always, you can find out more new information from the world of movies and series, as well as other exciting news in this weekend’s Nerd Alert column:

• The new series “Shogun” achieved an increasingly rare result / Elon Musk also angered Windows / The franchise “Terminator” expands with another title

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