Last weekend, "Dune: Part Two" (Dune: Part Two), co-produced by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., was released, giving the stagnant North American film market a shot in the arm.

This sequel is adapted from the epic science fiction masterpiece of the same name created by Frank Herbert. It opened with a box office of US$81.5 million in 4,071 theaters. This figure has doubled compared with the US$41.01 million opening box office of the first "Dune" released in 2021. It has also become the largest opening in North America since "Taylor Swift: The Age of Concert Tour" was released in October last year. Draw the highest-grossing work.

"Dune 2" stills

The box office success of "Dune 2" is first of all due to the excellent quality of the film itself. The film currently has a 93% freshness rating on the film review website "Rotten Tomatoes". Its audience seems to have exceeded the traditional science fiction fans, attracting North American audiences from all ages, different genders, and different skin colors. The producer Warner's own poll shows that among the audience of "Dune 2", people over the age of 25 account for about 60%, the ratio of men to women is basically 6:4, and white people account for 65%.

In addition, a major driving force for its box office growth is high-end theaters such as IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and Giant Screen, which have relatively higher ticket prices. During the three-day weekend, the box office of this part of the theater accounted for 48% of the total box office; the IMAX theater alone sold movie tickets worth US$18.5 million, accounting for 23% of the total box office. This is also in line with the general trend that in the post-epidemic era, North American audiences pay more attention to audio-visual effects and are more willing to spend more to obtain this special experience under relatively high-quality viewing conditions.

In addition, the producer's original decision to postpone the release of "Dune 2" from October 2023 to March 1 this year now seems to be quite wise. No matter how good a movie is, it still needs stars to work hard on road shows to build momentum. Due to the Screen Actors Guild strike last year, if "Dune 2" is released, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy and others who will star in the film are bound to be Unable to participate in promotional activities, we simply postponed the release until everything returned to normal, so that we could achieve the good results we have today. Moreover, since the end of last year, the popularity of starring Timothée Chalamet has been further enhanced by the hit release of "Wonka", and "Dune 2" has also benefited from it to a greater or lesser extent.

According to statistics from the media company, topics related to "Dune 2" received a total of 570 million views on Facebook and other social media, surpassing the 460 million views of the first "Dune". This is mainly due to the attention-grabbing attention of several popular Hollywood actors such as Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh on social media.

Outside of North America, "Dune 2" also grossed US$97 million at the overseas box office, and its global box office total has exceeded US$170 million. This Friday (March 8), the film will be released in theaters in mainland China, and its global box office is expected to further increase significantly by then.

Stills from "Problem Expert"

In addition to blockbusters, as the awards season comes to an end, the niche films in theaters are not entirely dominated by Oscar-nominated films, and new films are debuting one after another. "Problemista" produced by A24 premiered in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles last weekend, earning an opening box office of US$140,000, with an average of US$28,000 per theater, making it the highest-grossing film of its kind since the beginning of the year. The best box office performance of the work. Written, directed and starring Julio Torres, the film tells the hilarious experience of a South American toy designer who comes to New York to break into the art world.

It is estimated that the total North American box office this weekend is about 114 million US dollars, which is basically the same as the 118 million US dollars in the same period last year. This has also allowed the North American film market, which has experienced a sharp decline at the beginning of 2024, to finally usher in its first weekend with a box office of over 100 million US dollars.

Overall, the total North American box office so far this year has dropped by 13% compared to the same period last year. Fortunately, the box office performance of "Dune 2" is better than expected. In addition, "Kung Fu Panda 4" will be released on March 8 and "Ghostbusters: Frozen City" and "Goth" will be released this month. "King Kong: Rise of an Empire", the total North American box office in March is expected to exceed the US$650 million in the same period last year. This is crucial to reversing the poor start to 2024 so far.