TCTTS said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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I will say, this feels like exactly the kind of movie that would have legs in the subsequent weeks after word of mouth gets more people into theaters.

Then again...I thought Blade Runner 2049 would do well.

We shall see. What sucks is Eternals is right around the corner, so it's not like it'll have a lot of time in IMAX theaters.

But what chaps my ass is that somehow Venom 2 will likely have opened to a 3x bigger weekend than this.

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Agreed. It'll at least have two weekends - this weekend and next - without a ton of competition, before Eternals. And maybe word of mouth is good enough that it doesn't see a big drop next weekend, which could really help.

Honestly, though, it might just come down to whether or not WB wants to ruin their relationship with Villeneuve or not. They've already lost Nolan, and if they don't green light a Dune sequel, which Villeneuve is already writing, he probably won't work with them again either.

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Hey maybe Netflix or Amazon will fund it.

Most people I know saw Lord of the Rings, where as I know maybe three people who have any desire at all to see Dune. Lord of the Rings was at least an extension of a book everyone and their dog read in school, and came with a certain charm. It was also very much billed as a massive, three-year-in-row Christmas event, from the jump. Yet, I don't know a single person who has ever read Dune (though, again, I'm not saying it's not popular), and as good as the movie looks, it also looks to be completely void of charm, while not having either a "summer" or "holiday" event feel either. It's just this random date in October, on the heels of three $50M+ opening weekends in a row.

Either way, I don't think you can really lump fantasy and sci-fi together. Between LOTR and Game of Thrones, blockbuster fantasy has gained a certain broad appeal/acceptance. But hardcore, uber-serious sci-fi, as this appears to be, definitely has a ceiling in terms of audience. It would be one thing if this was a *fun* "space movie," but it's not. I really do think the "weight" of it is a big turn off for most people. My family, for instance (parents, sisters, and their families) has seen all three LOTR movies, all the Star Wars movies, and both Guardians if the a Galaxy movies (the GOTG movies being their unanimous favorites), but when I showed them the Dune trailer a couple months back it was basically crickets. They just have zero interest in it. It's a small sample, I know, but speaks to a larger issue, and I'm afraid this franchise just isn't going to have any kind of mass appeal.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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I will say, this feels like exactly the kind of movie that would have legs in the subsequent weeks after word of mouth gets more people into theaters.

Then again...I thought Blade Runner 2049 would do well.

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But Dune was never (and cannot be) a crowd pleaser type movie (IMO). It is just not that type of story.

The main character is an introverted messiah-in-the-making, and not relatable to most of the audience. I mean... whether you saw the 84 movie or read the books, did anyone actually "root" for Paul?

Overall, it is not a happy story, especially that part of the story covered by Part 1. You have few characters for the audience to latch onto and to look forward to. And DV's cinematography and art design does have a colder/alien feel to it vs other scifi type movies.

As for crowd-pleasing action... if you have read the book or seen the movie, you know what those story points are. DV did a great job with the visuals of the action scenes he was able to work with given the part of the story that it covers, but these are few and far between in what is a slow burn of half a story.

I fear this will be just like BR 2049. People will praise the visuals, but the story will leave the broader general audience cold or indifferent.

I hope it does well enough to get the sequel made, since this version includes more of the politics left out of the 84 movie. And it would be a shame to leave the overall vision incomplete.

TCTTS said:

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Yes, international numbers have over-performed. But domestically, it's looking like good reviews likely aren't going to translate to box office. I'm afraid this is just too sci-fi for most people. The tracking could always be off, though, and it sometimes is.

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Is the tracking based off of pre-sale tickets? I would think more people would just walk up and buy, given they know theaters arent likely to sell out.

One of them is, but the other is impressively enough a very normal gal to hang around

It's some kind of algorithm. And pre-sales tickets are just part of the equation. I imagine it also has to do with historical/comparable box office numbers (in the same genre, time of year, year), social media engagement, polling, etc. I'm not 100% sure.

I was referring to everyone having read The Hobbit in school, not LOTR. And because of The Hobbit, so many people already knew what hobbits were, what the general setting was, etc. In that sense, I would say more people were familiar with The Hobbit/LOTR going into those movies than are with Dune going into this movie.

Regardless, the LOTR movies were four quadrant family affairs that basically defined Christmas, pop-culture-wise, for thee straight years. Dune doesn't have that four quadrant family vibe, nor has it planted its flag as some kind of massive release that defines a particular season.

Yeah... that's not how averages work

We just need to buy out movie theaters for ourselves each time we go. One person per theater should bump up those numbers

DallasTeleAg said:

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Yeah... that's not how averages work

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I assumed a normal distribution

TCTTS said:

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I was referring to everyone having read The Hobbit in school, not LOTR. And because of The Hobbit, so many people already knew what hobbits were, what the general setting was, etc. In that sense, I would say more people were familiar with The Hobbit/LOTR going into those movies than are with Dune going into this movie.

Regardless, the LOTR movies were four quadrant family affairs that basically defined Christmas, pop-culture-wise, for thee straight years. Dune doesn't have that four quadrant family vibe, nor has it planted its flag as some kind of massive release that defines a particular season.

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I know my friends and I were there opening day for Fellowship, and we talked people who had not heard of it into going to see it with us. There were a lot more people in my social group that had not read the books than people who had but still saw it opening weekend.

I wonder if Dune, as a book and culturally relevant touchstone, just hasn't stayed as relevant with the middle school-college age crowd as time passes by?

This is a sidebar, but are you saying you had to read The Hobbit in school for a class? That's crazy.

PatAg said:

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This is a sidebar, but are you saying you had to read The Hobbit in school for a class? That's crazy.

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Honors English Lit class

I never had to read it in school, but I know a ton of people who did. Including a few older family members.

We read the Hobbit in middle school

Find your destiny on a new world. Experience Dune, streaming on HBO Max October 21 at 6 pm ET.

Reminder for tomorrow, we have a spoiler thread…

https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/3216729

Ann Sarnoff seemingly confirms that a ‘DUNE’ sequel will happen.

“Will we have a sequel to Dune? If you watch the movie you see how it ends. I think you pretty much know the answer to that.”

(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/uSqFrGFK3T

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 21, 2021

YNWA_AG said:

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Ann Sarnoff seemingly confirms that a ‘DUNE’ sequel will happen.

“Will we have a sequel to Dune? If you watch the movie you see how it ends. I think you pretty much know the answer to that.”

(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/uSqFrGFK3T

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 21, 2021

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I dunno, these things sometimes don't work out. I'm still waiting for Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League.

Just finished the book last night. Clearly never meant to be a standalone book. I am excited to watch trailers today and catch up with all the real-world buzz (I have been radio silence to the outside during reading).

C@LAg said:

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PatAg said:

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This is a sidebar, but are you saying you had to read The Hobbit in school for a class? That's crazy.

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Honors English Lit class

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My 6th grader had to read it last year. I was all "dude I barely made it through the The Hobbit in HS and I was a fantasy nerd."

I let him watch the movies as he got through that part of the book so it was a little broken up.

Classical school.

I didnt like the writing style of the book or the 80-ness old movie, but I really liked the new movie.

The pace is slow but steady and the visuals are amazing.

I hope people unfamiliar with the source material can follow along because the movie doesn't hold the viewers hand too much. (Which I appreciate)