It's pretty much a foregone conclusion with the HBO Max day and date release and many still reluctant to go to the movie theater that Dune is going to be a bomb? Some think it's going to bomb because people who didn't read the books won't understand it. Just curious how bad you think it will be? And this will kill any potential sequels.


I think it's going to make between $70-80M worldwide.

Does it matter? HBO and HBO Max has about 60M users. That's like $1B a month in subscription fees. Will Box Office become irrelevant?

The Youtube trailer is the most viewed of all Warner Bros films, it will do decent business. I think this is being overly pessimistic.

This is like a $200M movie. Of course it matters. If it fails, any potential sequels are likely dead. And it's millions in losses.

Also, every division of WB has their own budgets and accounting. You can't say oh it's making money on subscriber fees. No it's not. The accounting to pay for this movie doesn't come from HBO Max fees.

I'm of the mind that as soon as WB announced the Day in Date movies, they we're going to take a bath in box office revenue, but make it up in Subscription fees.

If WB makes 500M in Dune Screens but $0 at the box office...how is that different then them releasing it in normal times and making $500M in the box office and $0 streaming?

That's a hypothetical because Pandora's box has been opened, but they'd much rather make the subscription money over Box Office.

That’s just thanks to all the Chalamaniac girls watching it on repeat playing with themselves. Now that’s spice.

I think it's going to depend on the covid situation. But really, I don't think we can analyze box office right now. Every movie is technically a failure. The bar had to be lowered to call them a success.

Yes, this thread just screams dramatic.

It is going to be as huge as Blade Runner 2049... meaning it is going to bomb hard.

What was Warner’s final decision on the day/date release to HBOmax? It’s gone back and forth so many times that I lost track. The last I heard was that it wasn’t going day/date and would be released exclusively to theaters for a time before it made its way to HBOmax. Has that changed?

Theaters probably will never recover but I'm entirely fine with that.

It never changed. It is Max and theatres, same day.

Thanks. It may not have officially changed but there was some definite in-fighting about what the release was going to look like. Those arguments spilled over into press releases. At least that’s what I recall. I could be wrong.

I suspect that Dune will perform poorly in theaters because by the time it opens in October, we'll be living in a fucking COVID-19 dystopian hellscape and few people will want to sit in a closed theater -- if they're even still open by then -- full of strangers with the Lambda variant raging.

I think it will bomb bigly. Too weird and too nerdy and too confusing.

that being said, when I saw the first LOTR in theaters I think I fell asleep briefly and thought it was one of the most stupid and boring pieces of shit I had ever seen.

And that went on to do very well. I still haven’t seen the other LOTR movies.

im only in on Dune because Denis is directing and he’s awesome.

Yes, Legendary threatened to sue WB. Then someone falsely claimed it would get a theatrical window, but someone at the head WB shot that down. WB never changed their stance on how it was being released.

I don't think this movie's going to have any mainstream appeal. Outside of my geeky friends, I don't know anyone's that's read the books. I don't know anyone that's a fan of the 80's movie. Or thinks of Dune the same way they think of other great Sci-Fi franchises.

Personally, I have almost zero interest in seeing it. I like big budget Sci-Fi movies, so I'll definitely watch it on HBOMax. But I'm not excited for it.

It won't Bomb in my Heart <3 DUNE <3

I think it’ll definitely underperform. The HBOmax bullshit and the fact that it is a pretty out there story.
I’ve tried reading the book multiple times and the Lynch movie I just can’t get into. I’m really looking forward to this version though. I’m a sucker for sci-fi and I really like the cast minus the lead.

honestly, i would like only for this to do well for Denis Villeneuve, but i really don't care about BO or anything like that. amazed or saddened sometimes at results, but don't really care from last year going forward. i love his work and they haven't really been hugely successful financially, maybe Sicario (low budget, i'm sure). i don't really know. i don't think BR 2049, i think the budget on that one made it a money loss overall, was that successful. hopefully wrong. Prisoners, etc. Arrival, i think was a huge success and rightfully so. he is not a money maker, but he is a damn good movie maker. but, even though i have no ties to original movie or Herbert's book, i will watch this the weekend it's out for DV. and the actors are pretty great as well.

I do think it's kind of weird how Dune has gotten three adaptions (Lynch, SciFi mini, Villeneuve), while other science fiction classics like Neuromancer, Stranger in a Strange Land, Rendezvous with Rama, and others, have gotten zero. And it took them forever to do Foundation and Childhood's End.

Especially odd considering that it's a big budget space opera, and the previous two adaptions have been cult hits at best. The Lynch film has its fans, but the SciFi miniseries seems to be mostly forgotten. Seems like Hollywood has a real fascination with this particular story.

Every time I’ve gone into a book store in the last 6 months or so, Dune seems to always be prominently displayed in a high traffic areas. So at least they’re TRYING to get the story into the forefront.

This was going to be the movie that brought me back to theaters but the further we slip back into COVID bullshit, the more I lean toward just watching this at home.

I hope it does really well. I’d hate for this to not get proper follow-up movies. I want to do my part but not at the cost of my, and my family’s, health. If it fails, that sucks but it’ll be just one more shitty repercussion on top of a million other shitty repercussions over the last year +.

they all want to strike gold twice and be the next Star Wars. that's how i see these sci-fi "space opera" type movies since 1980 (which really cemented the series). they want to be Star Wars OT and never will be, but try nonetheless.

Buy a $100 private screening for you and your family or friends. But, that might be a little too rich for you. But that is an option. Many chains offer that option and several of my colleagues have done it with a group of friends.

Remaking it every 20 years isn't that often, especially if one was a TV version back in the day when they had no budget and mediocre scripts.