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Dune Scores Solid Thursday Box Office Ahead Of Opening Weekend

A cursory glance at the internet will tell you that Dune is already one of the major online talking points heading into the weekend, which bodes well for Denis Villenueve's sci-fi blockbuster both at the box office and on HBO Max, where it's poised to top the charts on both fronts.

dune

A cursory glance at the internet will tell you that Dune is already one of the major online talking points heading into the weekend, which bodes well for Denis Villenueve’s sci-fi blockbuster both at the box office and on HBO Max, where it’s poised to top the charts on both fronts.

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In even better news, the latest adaptation of the iconic source novel has brought in a solid $5.1 million from Thursday preview screenings, as per Deadline. That’s well ahead of fellow day-and-date hybrid The Suicide Squad, which nabbed $4.1 million, and it’s even ahead of the $4.85 million posted by Halloween Kills last weekend, although Dune isn’t expected to come close to the slasher sequel’s $50 million three-day frame.

Industry analysts estimate that Warner Bros. will be happy if Dune soars past $300 million globally given the current circumstances caused by the pandemic, which is an entirely reasonable target. The 165-minute saga also releases in China today, a country where effects-driven fantasy always tends to play very well among audiences.

All told, the studio are projecting Dune to have brought in somewhere in the region of $35 million by the time the dust settles on Sunday, which would be a great start for such an ambitious and potentially polarizing project, especially one that only tells half a story.